Noun

(head)

Note : usage of the plural to refer to elite individuals, rather than disctinct elite groups (e.g. national elites) may be considered nonstandard

Noun

(head)

(plural only, generically) People, especially a large number of people

* '>citation

Since first tossing its cartoonish, good-time cock-rock to the masses in the early ’00s, The Darkness has always fallen back on this defense: The band is a joke, but hey, it’s a good joke. With Hot Cakes—the group’s third album, and first since reforming last year—the laughter has died. In its place is the sad wheeze of the last surviving party balloon slowly, listlessly deflating.

(plural only) The total population.

The masses will be voting this Tuesday.

* 1975 , (Monty Python), '(Monty Python and the Holy Grail)'':

Dennis: Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses , not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

(plural only) The lower classes or all but the elite.