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 Matthew 24:30 the word has a wider significance. The tribes of Israel are referred to as types of the spiritual family of God (Revelation 7). (see ISRAEL, KINGDOM OF; JUDAH, KINGDOM OF.)

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) 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.

2. (n.) A number of species or genera having certain structural characteristics in common; as, a tribe of plants; a tribe of animals.

3. (n.) 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. (n.) 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. (n.) A family of animals descended from some particular female progenitor, through the female line; as, the Duchess tribe of shorthorns.

6. (v. t.) To distribute into tribes or classes.