case
case1 definition
case (kās)
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
Etymology: so named because L cases were thought of as “falling away” from the nom.: see accidence
Gram.- the syntactic relationship shown in highly inflected languages such as German and Latin by changes in the form of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives
- the form that a noun, pronoun, or adjective takes to show such relationship
- any of the sets of such forms the accusative case
- 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
case Idioms
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
- a container, as a box, crate, chest, sheath, or folder
- a protective cover or covering part a leather case, seedcase
- a full box or its contents a case of beer
- a set or pair a case of pistols
- a frame as for a window or door
- 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
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