case

The definition of a case is a holder for something or an instance of something happening.

(noun)

See case in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

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

Origin: 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, casing

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

noun

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

transitive verb cased, casing

See case in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

An instance of something; an occurrence; an example: a case of mistaken identity. See Synonyms at example.
An occurrence of a disease or disorder: a mild case of flu.
A set of circumstances or a state of affairs; a situation: It may rain, in which case the hike will be canceled.
Actual fact; reality: We suspected the walls were hollow, and this proved to be the case.
A question or problem; a matter: It is simply a case of honor.
A situation that requires investigation, especially by a formal or official body.
Law
a. An action or a suit or just grounds for an action.
b. The facts or evidence offered in support of a claim.
A set of reasons or supporting facts; an argument: presented a good case for changing the law.
A person being assisted, treated, or studied, as by a physician, lawyer, or social worker.
Informal A peculiar or eccentric person; a character.
Linguistics
a. In traditional grammar, a distinct form of a noun, pronoun, or modifier that is used to express one or more particular syntactic relationships to other words in a sentence.
b. Case In some varieties of generative grammar, the thematic or semantic role of a noun phrase as represented abstractly but not necessarily indicated overtly in surface structure. In such frameworks, nouns in English have Case even in the absence of inflectional case endings.