case Hear it!

case¹ Definition

case (kās)

noun

  1. an example, instance, or occurrence a case of carelessness, a case of measles
  2. a person being treated or helped, as by a doctor or social worker
  3. any individual or matter requiring or undergoing official or formal observation, study, investigation, etc.
  4. a statement of the facts or circumstances, as in a law court, esp. the argument of one side the case for the defendant
  5. supporting or convincing arguments or evidence; proper grounds for a statement or action he has no case
  6. a legal action or suit, esp. one studied or cited as a precedent
  7. ☆ Informal a peculiar or eccentric person
  8. ☆ Informal an infatuation; crush

  9. Etymology: so named because L cases were thought of as “falling away” from the nom.: see accidence

    Gram.
    1. the syntactic relationship shown in highly inflected languages such as German and Latin by changes in the form of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives
    2. the form that a noun, pronoun, or adjective takes to show such relationship
    3. any of the sets of such forms the accusative case
    4. in Modern English and other languages with relatively few inflections, such a relationship, whether expressed by word order or by inflected forms; also, any of these forms or sets of forms, esp. the Modern English subjective, objective, and possessive forms of pronouns and possessive form of nouns

Etymology: ME & OFr cas, an event < L casus, a chance, lit., falling, pp. of cadere, to fall < IE base *ad-, to fall > Sans ad-, to fall off

transitive verb cased, cas′·ing

☆ Slang to look over carefully, esp. in preparation for an intended robbery

case¹ Idioms

get on someone's case

or get off someone's case☆

to start (or stop) intruding in another's affairs

in any case

no matter what else may be true; anyhow

in case

in the event that; if

in case of

in the event of; if there should happen to be

in no case

by no means; not under any circumstances; never

case² Definition

case (kās)

noun

  1. a container, as a box, crate, chest, sheath, or folder
  2. a protective cover or covering part a leather case, seedcase
  3. a full box or its contents a case of beer
  4. a set or pair a case of pistols
  5. a frame as for a window or door
  6. a shallow compartmented tray in which printing type is kept

Etymology: ME < OFr dial. casse (OFr chasse) < L capsa, box < capere, to take, hold: see have

transitive verb cased, cas′·ing

  1. to put into a container
  2. to cover or enclose

case Synonyms

case

n.

  1. An example

    instance, illustration, sample, case study; see example 1.

  2. Circumstance

    incident, occurrence, fact, matter; see cause 4, circumstance 1, event 1, 2, fact 2, state 2.

  3. A legal action

    suit, litigation, lawsuit, proceeding; see claim, trial 2.

  4. An organized argument

    argument, petition, evidence; see claim, proof 1.

  5. Actual conditions

    situation, status, position; see circumstance 1, fact 1, 2, state 2.

  6. Difficulty

    plight, quandary, problem; see crisis, predicament.

  7. A container or its contents

    carton, canister, crate, compact, crating, box, casing, chest, drawer, holder, tray, receptacle, coffer, crib, chamber, chassis, caisson, bin, bag, grip, cabinet, jacket, wrapper, slipcase, sheath, scabbard, wallet, caddy, safe, basket, casket; see also bag, container, cover 1, trunk 1.

  8. *A difficult or eccentric person

    problem, bother, crank; see character 4, trouble 2. See syn. study at instance.

get<strong> or </strong>be on one's case

nag, bother, meddle, bug*; see bother 2, censure.

in any case

in any event, anyway, regardless, no matter what; see anyhow 1.

in case (of)

in the event that, in the event of, provided that, supposing, if it should happen that, as a precaution, as a provision against; see also if.

in no case

by no means, under no circumstances, not at all; see never.

case Law Definition

n

  1. An action, cause of action, controversy, proceeding, or suit at law or in equity filed with a court.
  2. Same as trespass on the case. See trespass.
  3. The aggregate of the evidence presented at trial by a party in support of their argument or position.
agreed case
. See case stated.
case at bar
A case that is proceeding towards resolution or trial or is under the particular or immediate attention of the court. Also called instant case and present case. See also bar and sub judice.
case in chief
The primary case presented by a party that satisfies that party’s initial burden of proof, as distinguished from the “rebuttal case”.
case on point
A previously decided case with facts or legal issues that were similar or comparable to those in a case at bar. See also precedent.
case of first impression
A case that presents a legal issue that has never been considered or decided by any court in that jurisdiction. See also stare decisis.
test case
A case initiated or selected from a group of cases that involve the same or substantially similar facts and questions of law for the purpose of testing the constitutionality of a law or establishing an important legal principle.
prima facie case
The evidence presented at trial by a party that is sufficient to satisfy the party’s burden of proof and to allow the fact-finder to decide the case in that party’s favor. See also verdict, dismissal, and nonsuit.
rebuttal case
The evidence presented at trial by the plaintiff or prosecution to contradict the evidence presented during the defendant’s case in chief.
surrebuttal case
The evidence presented at trial by the defendant to contradict the evidence presented in the plaintiff’s or prosecution’s rebuttal case.
case Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • argue: He argues the case for seeing contemporary 'global ' changes as more than economic and cultural in nature.
  • investigate: Normally, when investigating a case, they would send the local " UFO officer " from the nearest airbase.
  • consider: The Hearing Officer therefore went on to consider the case put forward by the applicant.
  • handle: A series of courses on handling sexual offenses cases are to begin in the autumn of 2003.
  • bring: Thursday 2 May 1974 The Irish government brought a case of torture against the British government to the European Commission on Human Rights.

Adjective modifier

  • most: In most cases these symptoms will diminish over a period of time from a few hours to days or weeks.
  • many: In many cases, they have made the situation worse.
  • such: In such cases the final mark awarded for the module will reflect the degree of reassessment is allowed.
  • particular: The legal basis in any particular case is bound to depend on the circumstances.
  • extreme: An abortion must by law, except in a few extreme cases, be carried out before the twenty fourth week of pregnancy.
  • latter: In the latter case they are the earliest extant form of the art.

Modifies a noun

  • study: Case study: Happy to be in control Richard Freeman, 38, says he likes the control offered by an offset mortgage.
  • law: Readers should be alert to the possibility of developments in case law that might affect the rights described.

Noun used with modifier

  • court: The Norwegian police caught five members of the hit squad and the subsequent court case exposed Mossad's murderous campaign.
  • facie: A prima facie case of bad faith was established and in the absence of any defense the application must succeed.
  • business: Indeed, there is an attempt to point out the business case for attending to privacy.
  • test: The test cases presented were run on a 450 MHz pentium II processor with 128 MB of RAM, under Windows 98.
  • murder: Professor Robert Langdon ( Hanks ) is lecturing in Paris when he becomes the prime suspect in a murder case.

Possessives

  • pursuer: The Joint Minute should be read to the jury by Junior Counsel for the Pursuer at the end of the pursuer's case.

Preposition: of

  • emergency: There is always at least one Soyuz craft docked to the ISS to act as a ' lifeboat ' in case of an emergency.
case Quotes

The casehas, insome respects, beennot entirelydevoid of interest.

—Doyle, SirArthur Conan

And the case of butterflies so rich it looks As if all summer settled there and died.

—Larkin, Philip Arthur

This is no case of petty right or wrong That politicians or philosophers Can judge. I hate not Germans, nor grow hot With love of Englishmen, to please newspapers.

—Thomas, (Philip) Edward

   Now gae your wa'söTho'anes as gude As ever happit flesh and blude, Yet part we maunöthe case sae hard is, Amang the writers and the bardies That lang they'll brook the auld I trow, Or neibours cry,'Weel brook the new'.

—Ferber, Edna

We doctors know a hopeless case ifölisten: there's a hell of a good universe next door; let's go

—cummings, e e pen name of  Edward Estlin Cummings

   That vessel in which the powers of steam are to be employed to work the engine, which is called the Cylinder in common fire engines, and which I call the SteamVessel, must, during the whole time the engine is at work, be kept ashot asthesteamthat entersit; first, by enclosing it ina case of wood, oranyother materialsthat transmit heat slowly; secondly, by surrounding it with steam or other heated bodies; and thirdly, by suffering neither water noranyother substance colder thansteam to enter and touch it during that time.

—Watt,James

   The rule of distributive justice is a statement of what ought to be, and what people say ought to be is determined in the long run and with some lag by what they find in fact to be the case.

—Homans, George C

But had I wist, before I kiss'd, That love had been sae ill to win. I'd lock'd my heart in a case o'gowd, And pinn'd it wi'a siller pin.

—Ballads

Doyouknow,Mr Hopper, dear Agatha and Iaresomuch interested in Australia. It must be so pretty with all the dear littlekangaroosflying about. Agatha has found iton the map.What a curious shape it is! Just like a large packing case.

—Wilde, Oscar Fingal O'FlahertieWills

To be President of the United States, sir, is to act as advocate for the blind, venomous, and ungrateful client; still, one must make the best of the case, for the purposes of Providence.

—Updike,John Hoyer

Youdon't lead by pointing and telling peoplesomeplace to go.You lead by going to that place and making a case.

—Kesey, Ken Elton

Look here, sir, tell menomoreunnecessary lies. Suchlies as your attorneyadvised you are necessary for the presentation of your fraudulent case I will listen to though I shall decide against you whatever you swear, Addison but if you tell me another unnecessary lie, I'll put you in the dock.

—Adams,Judge Richard

The sooner the Crown Colony system is removed from thesphere of practical politicsand put underaglasscase in the South Kensington Museum, labelled 'Extinct', the better for everyone.

—Kingsley, Mary Henrietta

If all men are born free, how is it that all women are born slaves? as they must be if the being subjected to the inconsistent, uncertain, unknown, arbitrary will of men, be the perfect condition of slavery? and if the essence of freedom consists, as our masters say it does, in having a standing rule to live by? And why is slavery so much condemnedandstroveagainst inonecase, andsohighly applauded, and held so necessary and so sacred in another?

—Astell, Mary

   When you see a lawyer trying to pick a smart jury, you know he's got a strong case.

—Bailey, F(rancis) Lee

A Suitable Case forTreatment.

—Mercer, David

I got a terrible case of the Fountainblues. 426

—Huxtable, Ada Louise ne¤  e Landman

A test case of US capacity to help a nation meet a Communist 'war of liberation'.

—McNamara, Robert Strange

Victrix causa deis placuit, sed victa Catoni. Avictorious case pleased the gods, but a lost one Cato.

—Lucan full name Marcus Annaeus Lucanus

And when a lady's in the case, You know, all other things give place.

—Gay,John

DieWelt ist alles, was der Fall ist. The world is all that is the case.

—Wittgenstein, LudwigJosef Johann

Browse dictionary entries near case

  1. ‹ Casco Bay
  2. ‹ cascarilla
  3. ‹ cascara sagrada
  4. ‹ cascara
  5. ‹ Cascade Range
  6. ‹ cascade
  7. ‹ cascabel
  8. ‹ casbah
  9. ‹ Casaubon
  10. ‹ Casanova
  1. case knife ›
  2. case law ›
  3. case shot ›
  4. case system ›
  5. casease ›
  6. caseate ›
  7. caseation ›
  8. casebook ›
  9. casefy ›
  10. caseharden ›