law, practice of law
(noun) the learned profession that is mastered by graduate study in a law school and that is responsible for the judicial system; “he studied law at Yale”
law, natural law
(noun) a rule or body of rules of conduct inherent in human nature and essential to or binding upon human society
law, law of nature
(noun) a generalization that describes recurring facts or events in nature; “the laws of thermodynamics”
jurisprudence, law, legal philosophy
(noun) the branch of philosophy concerned with the law and the principles that lead courts to make the decisions they do
law
(noun) legal document setting forth rules governing a particular kind of activity; “there is a law against kidnapping”
police, police force, constabulary, law
(noun) the force of policemen and officers; “the law came looking for him”
law, jurisprudence
(noun) the collection of rules imposed by authority; “civilization presupposes respect for the law”; “the great problem for jurisprudence to allow freedom while enforcing order”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
law (countable and uncountable, plural laws)
The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities.
The body of such rules that pertain to a particular topic.
Common law, as contrasted with equity.
A binding regulation or custom established in a community in this way.
(more generally) A rule, such as
Any rule that must or should be obeyed, concerning behaviours and their consequences. (Compare mores.)
A rule or principle regarding the construction of language or art.
A statement (in physics, etc) of an (observed, established) order or sequence or relationship of phenomena which is invariable under certain conditions. (Compare theory.)
(mathematics, logic) A statement (of relation) that is true under specified conditions; a mathematical or logical rule.
Any statement of the relation of acts and conditions to their consequences.
(cricket) One of the official rules of cricket as codified by the its (former) governing body, the MCC.
The control and order brought about by the observance of such rules.
(informal) A person or group that act(s) with authority to uphold such rules and order (for example, one or more police officers).
The profession that deals with such rules (as lawyers, judges, police officers, etc).
Jurisprudence, the field of knowledge which encompasses these rules.
Litigation, legal action (as a means of maintaining or restoring order, redressing wrongs, etc).
(now, uncommon) An allowance of distance or time (a head start) given to a weaker (human or animal) competitor in a race, to make the race more fair.
(fantasy) One of two metaphysical forces ruling the world in some fantasy settings, also called order, and opposed to chaos.
(legal, chiefly, historical) An oath sworn before a court, especially disclaiming a debt. (Chiefly in the phrases "wager of law", "wage one's law", "perform one's law", "lose one's law".)
law (third-person singular simple present laws, present participle lawing, simple past and past participle lawed)
(obsolete) To work as a lawyer; to practice law.
(ambitransitive, chiefly, dialectal) To prosecute or sue (someone), to litigate.
(nonstandard) To rule over (with a certain effect) by law; govern.
(informal) To enforce the law.
To subject to legal restrictions.
law (plural laws)
(obsolete) A tumulus of stones.
(Scottish and Northern England, archaic) A hill.
law
(dated) An exclamation of mild surprise; lawks.
• AWL, WAL, WLA, Wal., awl, lwa
Law
A patronymic surname.
A diminutive of Lawrence.
Law
A topographic surname, perhaps originally meaning someone who lives near a burial mound.
(Scotland) a conical hill
A village in South Lanarkshire council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NS8252).
Law
(Judaism) The Torah.
(Christianity) Either the Divine commandments (primarily the Decalogue), the Old Testament in general or, most specifically, the Torah.
• According to the 2010 United States Census, Law is the 1,089th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 32,122 individuals. Law is most common among White (65.61%), Black (15.63%) and Asian (14.22%) individuals.
• AWL, WAL, WLA, Wal., awl, lwa
Source: Wiktionary
Law, n. Etym: [OE. lawe, laghe, AS. lagu, from the root of E. lie: akin to OS. lag, Icel. lög, Sw. lag, Dan. lov; cf. L. lex, E. legal. A law is that which is laid, set, or fixed; like statute, fr. L. statuere to make to stand. See Lie to be prostrate.]
1. In general, a rule of being or of conduct, established by an authority able to enforce its will; a controlling regulation; the mode or order according to which an agent or a power acts.
Note: A law may be universal or particular, written or unwritten, published or secret. From the nature of the highest laws a degree of permanency or stability is always implied; but the power which makes a law, or a superior power, may annul or change it. These are the statutes and judgments and law, which the Lord made. Lev. xxvi. 46. The law of thy God, and the law of the King. Ezra vii. 26. As if they would confine the Interminable . . . Who made our laws to bind us, not himself. Milton. His mind his kingdom, and his will his law. Cowper.
2. In morals: The will of God as the rule for the disposition and conduct of all responsible beings toward him and toward each other; a rule of living, conformable to righteousness; the rule of action as obligatory on the conscience or moral nature.
3. The Jewish or Mosaic code, and that part of Scripture where it is written, in distinction from the gospel; hence, also, the Old Testament. What things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law . . . But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Rom. iii. 19, 21.
4. In human government: (a) An organic rule, as a constitution or charter, establishing and defining the conditions of the existence of a state or other organized community. (b) Any edict, decree, order, ordinance, statute, resolution, judicial, decision, usage, etc., or recognized, and enforced, by the controlling authority.
5. In philosophy and physics: A rule of being, operation, or change, so certain and constant that it is conceived of as imposed by the will of God or by some controlling authority; as, the law of gravitation; the laws of motion; the law heredity; the laws of thought; the laws of cause and effect; law of self-preservation.
6. In matematics: The rule according to which anything, as the change of value of a variable, or the value of the terms of a series, proceeds; mode or order of sequence.
7. In arts, works, games, etc.: The rules of construction, or of procedure, conforming to the conditions of success; a principle, maxim; or usage; as, the laws of poetry, of architecture, of courtesy, or of whist.
8. Collectively, the whole body of rules relating to one subject, or emanating from one source; -- including usually the writings pertaining to them, and judicial proceedings under them; as, divine law; English law; Roman law; the law of real property; insurance law.
9. Legal science; jurisprudence; the principles of equity; applied justice. Reason is the life of the law; nay, the common law itself is nothing else but reason. Coke. Law is beneficence acting by rule. Burke. And sovereign Law, that state's collected will O'er thrones and globes elate, Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill. Sir W. Jones.
10. Trial by the laws of the land; judicial remedy; litigation; as, to go law. When every case in law is right. Shak. He found law dear and left it cheap. Brougham.
11. An oath, as in the presence of a court. [Obs.] See Wager of law, under Wager. Avogadro's law (Chem.), a fundamental conception, according to which, under similar conditions of temperature and pressure, all gases and vapors contain in the same volume the same number of ultimate molecules; -- so named after Avogadro, an Italian scientist. Sometimes called Ampère's law.
– Bode's law (Astron.), an approximative empirical expression of the distances of the planets from the sun, as follows: -- Mer. Ven. Earth. Mars. Aste. Jup. Sat. Uran. Nep. 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 0
Law, v. t.
Definition: Same as Lawe, v. t. [Obs.]
Law, interj. Etym: [Cf. La.]
Definition: An exclamation of mild surprise. [Archaic or Low]
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
27 April 2024
(adjective) remarkable or out of the ordinary in degree or magnitude or effect; “a great crisis”; “had a great stake in the outcome”
According to Guinness World Records, the largest iced coffee is 14,228.1 liters and was created by Caffé Bene (South Korea), in Yangju, South Korea, on 17 July 2014. They poured iced black Americano on the giant cup that measured 3.3 meters tall and 2.62 meters wide.
