Cāste (6), n.

(6), n. [Fr. caste, Sp. & Pg. casta, race, lineage, from Lat. castus, pure, chaste.]

1. One of the several hereditary classes into which society in India is divided, and which have come down from the earliest ages. The members of the same caste are all of equal rank, and of the same profession or occupation. The original castes, called in Sanskrit varṇas, or colors, are four, viz., the Brahmans, or sacerdotal order; the Kshatriya, or soldiers and rulers; the Vaisya, or husbandmen and merchants; and the Sudras, or laborers and mechanics. Numerous mixed classes, or castes, have sprung up in the progress of time.
2. A separate and fixed order or class of society. The tinkers then formed an hereditary caste. Macaulay.