Lexical Definition

‎δῆμος‎ dēmos (day'-mos) people ^G:N-M
from ‎δέω‎

people.

• the public (as bound together socially)

Abbott-Smith

δῆμος, -ου, ὁ [in LXX chiefly for מִשְׁפָּחָה ;]

1. a district, country.
2. the common people, the people generally; esp. the people assembled: Ac 12:22 17:5 19:30, 33.†
SYN.: λαός, the people at large: δ., the people as a body politic; opp. to δ. is ὄχλος, the unorganized multitude. ἔθνος, in sing., means in NT as in Gk. writers generally, a nation, but in pl. denotes the rest of mankind apart from the Jews: Gentiles. λ. also, rare in cl. (Att... λεώς), is freq. in LXX and NT, and usually limited to the chosen people, Israel (cf. Cl. Rev., i, 42 f.; Cremer, 689).

Abbott-Smith References

Liddell-Scott-Jones

δῆμος,

Doric dialect δᾶμος (compare infr. IV), ὁ, district, country, land, Βοιωτοὶ μάλα πίονα δ. ἔχοντες [δῆμος ὀνείρων">Refs 8th c.BC+] the land of dreams, [Refs]

__2 the people, inhabitants of such a district, πόληΐ τε παντί τε δήμῳ [Refs 8th c.BC+]
__II hence (since the common people lived in the country, the chiefs in the city), the commons, common people, δήμου ἀνήρ, opposed to βασιλεύς, ἔξοχος ἀνήρ, etc., [NT+8th c.BC+] being a commoner, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; opposed to οἱ εὐδαίμονες, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; opposed to οἱ παχέες, [Refs]; opposed to οἱ δυνατοί, [δῆμος [prev. author] 8.73 ">Refs 5th c.BC+]; = Latin plebs, [Refs 1st c.BC+]unus de plebe, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; in an army, rank and file, opposed to officers, ὁ δ. τῶν στρατιωτῶν [Refs 5th c.BC+]
__II.2 metaphorically, δ. ἰχθύων [Refs 4th c.BC+]; ὀρνέων [Refs 4th c.AD+]
__III in a political sense, the sovereign people, the free citizens, [Refs 5th c.BC+]
__III.2 popular government, democracy, opposed to ὀλιγαρχίη, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; opposed to οἱ τύραννοι, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; δήμου κατάλυσις [Refs 5th c.BC+]; δ. καταστῆσαι, καταπαύειν, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: in plural, democracies, [Refs 4th c.BC+]
__III.3 the popular assembly, λέγειν ἐν τῷ δ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἡ βουλὴ καὶ ὁ δ., formula in Inscrr., as [Refs]; of the assembly of Oxyrhynchus, [Refs 3rd c.AD+]
__IV township, commune (= Doric dialect κώμη accusative to [Refs 5th c.BC+], etc.:—Doric dialect δᾶμος, [Refs]: in indications of origin, Σωφάνης ἐκ δ. Δεκελεῆθεν [Refs 5th c.BC+]
__V name for a prostitute, [Refs 7th c.BC+]
__VI faction in the circus, [Refs 3rd c.AD+]
__VII ={κατανάγκη}, Ps.-[Refs 1st c.AD+]. (Perh. cognate with Sanskrit dā´ti 'reap', δαίομαι, δατέομαι.)

_{LSJ Scripture Refs: Acts.12.22}