ˈpə:snl adj. 1 one's
own;
individual;
private. 2
done or
made in
person (made a personal
appearance; my personal attention). 3 directed to or
concerning an individual (a personal letter). 4 referring (esp. in a
hostile way) to an individual's private
life or concerns (making personal remarks; no
need to be personal). 5 of
the body and clothing (personal
hygiene; personal appearance). 6 existing as a person,
not as an
abstraction or
thing (a personal God). 7 Gram. of or denoting
one of the
three persons (personal pronoun). øpersonal
column the
part of a
newspaper devoted to private advertisements or messages. personal
computer a computer designed
for use by a
single individual,
esp. in an
office or
business environment . personal
equation 1 the
allowance for an individual person's
time of
reaction in
making observations, esp. in
astronomy. 2 a
bias or
prejudice. personal
equity plan a
scheme for
limited personal
investment in shares,
unit trusts, etc. personal
identification number a number allocated to an individual,
serving as a
password esp. for a cash
dispenser, computer, etc. personal
pronoun a pronoun replacing the
subject,
object,
etc., of a
clause etc., e.g. I,
we,
you,
them,
us. personal
property (or estate)
Law all one's property
except land and
those interests in land
that pass to one's heirs (cf.
REAL(1) adj. 3). personal service individual service
given to a
customer. personal
stereo a
small portable audio cassette player,
often with radio, or compact
disc player, used with
lightweight headphones. personal
touch a
way of treating a
matter characteristic of or designed for an individual. [ME f. OF f. L personalis (as PERSON)]
