charity
    n 1: a foundation created to promote the public good (not for
         assistance to any particular individuals)
    2: a kindly and lenient attitude toward people [syn: charity,
       brotherly love]
    3: an activity or gift that benefits the public at large
    4: pinnate-leaved European perennial having bright blue or white
       flowers [syn: Jacob's ladder, Greek valerian, charity,
       Polemonium caeruleum, Polemonium van-bruntiae,
       Polymonium caeruleum van-bruntiae]
    5: an institution set up to provide help to the needy

Charity \Char"i*ty\, n.; pl. Charities. [F. charit['e] fr. L.
   caritas dearness, high regard, love, from carus dear, costly,
   loved; asin to Skr. kam to wish, love, cf. Ir. cara a friend,
   W. caru to love. Cf. Caress.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. Love; universal benevolence; good will.
      [1913 Webster]

            Now abideth faith, hope, charity, three; but the
            greatest of these is charity.         --1. Cor.
                                                  xiii. 13.
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            They, at least, are little to be envied, in whose
            hearts the great charities . . . lie dead. --Ruskin.
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            With malice towards none, with charity for all.
                                                  --Lincoln.
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   2. Liberality in judging of men and their actions; a
      disposition which inclines men to put the best
      construction on the words and actions of others.
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            The highest exercise of charity is charity towards
            the uncharitable.                     --Buckminster.
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   3. Liberality to the poor and the suffering, to benevolent
      institutions, or to worthy causes; generosity.
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            The heathen poet, in commending the charity of Dido
            to the Trojans, spake like a Christian. --Dryden.
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   4. Whatever is bestowed gratuitously on the needy or
      suffering for their relief; alms; any act of kindness.
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            She did ill then to refuse her a charity.
                                                  --L'Estrange.
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   5. A charitable institution, or a gift to create and support
      such an institution; as, Lady Margaret's charity.
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   6. pl. (Law) Eleemosynary appointments [grants or devises]
      including relief of the poor or friendless, education,
      religious culture, and public institutions.
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            The charities that soothe, and heal, and bless,
            Are scattered at the feet of man like flowers.
                                                  --Wordsworth.
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   Sisters of Charity (R. C. Ch.), a sisterhood of religious
      women engaged in works of mercy, esp. in nursing the sick;
      -- a popular designation. There are various orders of the
      Sisters of Charity.

   Syn: Love; benevolence; good will; affection; tenderness;
        beneficence; liberality; almsgiving.
        [1913 Webster]

CHARITY

    A functional language based purely on category
   theory by Cockett, Spencer, and Fukushima, 1990-1991.

   A version for Sun-4 is available from Tom Fukushima
   .

   ["About Charity", J.R.B. Cockett, U. Calgary, Canada, et al].

   (2000-10-30)

Charity
   (1 Cor. 13), the rendering in the Authorized Version of the word
   which properly denotes love, and is frequently so rendered
   (always so in the Revised Version). It is spoken of as the
   greatest of the three Christian graces (1 Cor. 12:31-13:13).