The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
n. The body of persons employed by or active in an organization, business, or service.
n. Persons.
n. An administrative division of an organization concerned with the body of persons employed by or active in it and often acting as a liaison between different departments.
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. The body of persons employed in some public service, as the army, navy, etc.; -- distinguished from matériel.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
n. The body of persons employed in any service, especially a public service, as the army, navy, etc., in contradistinction to the matériel, or material, which consists of guns, stores, tools, machines, etc.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
n. the department responsible for hiring and training and placing employees and for setting policies for personnel management
n. group of people willing to obey orders
Word Usage
"In the world of business organizations, the term personnel administration is steadily giving way to a new term—human resources development."