1. [n]  group of people related by blood or marriage
2. [n]  (biology) a taxonomic category between a genus and a subfamily
3. [n]  a federation (as of American Indians)
4. [n]  a social division of (usually preliterate) people

1. \Tribe\, n. [L. tribus, originally, a third part of the
   Roman people, afterwards, a division of the people, a tribe;
   of uncertain origin: cf. F. tribu.]
   1. A family, race, or series of generations, descending from
      the same progenitor, and kept distinct, as in the case of
      the twelve tribes of Israel, descended from the twelve
      sons of Jacob. ``The Lion of the tribe of Juda.'' --Rev.
      v. 5.
   
            A wealthy Hebrew of my tribe.         --Shak.
   
   2. (Bot.) A number of species or genera having certain
      structural characteristics in common; as, a tribe of
      plants; a tribe of animals.
   
   Note: By many recent naturalists, tribe has been used for a
         group of animals or plants intermediate between order
         and genus.
   
   
   
   3. A nation of savages or uncivilized people; a body of rude
      people united under one leader or government; as, the
      tribes of the Six Nations; the Seneca tribe.
   
   4. A division, class, or distinct portion of a people, from
      whatever cause that distinction may have originated; as,
      the city of Athens was divided into ten tribes.
   
   5. (Stock Breeding) A family of animals descended from some
      particular female progenitor, through the female line; as,
      the Duchess tribe of shorthorns.
   
   

2. \Tribe\, v. t.
   To distribute into tribes or classes. [R.]
   
         Our fowl, fish, and quadruped are well tribed. --Abp.
                                                  Nicolson.
   
   

a collection of families descending from one ancestor. The "twelve tribes" of the Hebrews were the twelve collections of families which sprang from the sons of Jacob. In Matt. 24:30 the word has a wider significance. The tribes of Israel are referred to as types of the spiritual family of God (Rev. 7). (See ISRAEL, KINGDOM OF; JUDAH, KINGDOM OF.)