CASE


Meaning of CASE in English

I. ˈkās noun

( -s )

Etymology: Middle English cas, from Old French, from Latin casus fall, event, chance, from casus, past participle of cadere to fall — more at chance

1.

a. : a special set of circumstances or conditions : a peculiar situation or series of developments ; especially : the circumstances and situation of a particular person, thing, or action

he lost not a single life in any case where the men were under his personal control — W.J.Ghent

b. : a set of circumstances constituting a problem : a matter for consideration or decision: as

(1) : a circumstance or situation (as a crime) requiring investigation or action by the police or other agency

(2) : one that is the object of investigation, consideration, or attention

the man is a relief case

2.

a. : the state of being or of affairs : the condition with respect to welfare or success

the critic of fiction is in no worse case than the critic of verse — C.H.Rickword

specifically : the condition of body or mind

cows, red of hide and in good case — Llewelyn Powys

b. : a condition of readiness : a suitable state of mind

I am in case to justle a constable — Shakespeare

c. : the order (sense 2d) of leaf tobacco

3.

[Middle English cas, from Middle French, from Latin casus, translation of Greek ptōsis, literally, fall; from the idea that cases other than the nominative are like deviations from a perpendicular line — more at ptosis ]

of a noun, adjective, or pronoun

a. : an inflectional form indicating the sense relation (as that of subject, object, possessor, thing possessed) to another word in the context

b. : a sense relation to another word in the context of a kind that may be but is not necessarily indicated by a particular inflectional form

the subject of a verb is in the nominative case

c. : the characteristic of having inflectional forms indicating the sense relation to another word or words in the context

a Latin noun has gender, number, and case

4. : what actually exists or happens : the existing situation : fact — used with the

advance was slower than had ever been the case before

5.

a.

(1) : the matters of fact or conditions involved in a suit : a suit or action in law or equity : cause

(2) : the printed report of the decision of a case at law

b.

(1) : the body of evidence tending to support a conclusion or judgment

the case for an industrialized Oxford lies in its ideal geographical position — S.P.B.Mais

(2) : a statement of the evidence or arguments relevant to a proposition : argument ; especially : an apparently valid or convincing argument

make a case for the privately endowed college

6.

a. : an instance of disease or injury

10 cases of pneumonia

also : a patient under treatment

b. : an instance or example of a particular type

Napoleon is the supreme case of reason in the novel — E.K.Brown

a case of a sacred marriage was reported — J.G.Frazer

c. : a person who is peculiar or extraordinary in some way : character

the rustlers were hard cases

7. : crush II 6

8. mapping : the position of the plane of projection relative to a point on the sphere

polar case

oblique case

equational case

Synonyms: see instance

- in any case

- in case

- in case

- in case of

- in case that

II. noun

( -s )

Usage: often attributive

Etymology: Middle English cas, from Old North French casse, from Latin capsa chest, case, from capere to take, hold — more at heave

1.

a. : a box or receptacle to contain or hold something (as for carrying, shipping, or safekeeping)

a silver cigarette case

12 bottles in a case

a display case in a meat market

b. : a box and its contents : the quantity contained in a box

three cases of eggs

c. : set

a case of instruments

specifically : pair , brace

a case of pistols

d. : a compartmented box or rack for sorting or classification: as

(1) : a shallow tray divided into boxes for holding printing type ; also : any similar container for auxiliary material (as leads, slugs, or accents) — see job case , lower case , upper case

(2) : a rack used in the postal service for sorting mail

e.

(1) : the fourth card of any denomination left in the dealing box in faro

case card

(2) : the remaining card of a denomination or suit of which the other cards have been played or dealt

a case king

2.

a. : an outer protective covering, sheath, or housing

a watch case

a pillow case

seed case

b. obsolete : the skin, hide, or pelt of an animal

c. : case shot

d. : the carcass of a building or of a piece of furniture

e.

(1) : a book cover that is made complete before it is affixed to a book

(2) : slipcase

f. : a large triangular cavity in the upper anterior part of the head of a sperm whale formed by the transverse crest of the skull and the lateral crests of the maxillary bones ; also : the fluid mixture of spermaceti and oil that it contains

g. : the hardened surface layer of case-hardened iron or steel

a case of 0.040 inch

h. : the metal or paper and metal tube into which the components of a round of ammunition are loaded — compare cartridge 1a

3. : the enclosing frame in which a door or window is set : casing

4. slang : dollar

a 5- case note

5. : a form in plaster made from a block mold and used for making the working molds in ceramics

6. : a flat metal plate having on one side a layer of wax that when impressed forms a mold for an electrotype

- down to cases

III. transitive verb

( -ed/-ing/-s )

1.

a. : to enclose or put in a case or casing : cover or protect with or as if with a case : encase

the man who, cased in steel, had passed whole days and nights in the saddle — W.H.Prescott

b. building : to cover with a facing of different material usually of a better grade

case a brick wall with stone

c. : to apply an overlay of glass to — compare casing 1b

d. : to affix (a book) in a case by adhering the pastedowns to the inside of the covers — usually used with in ; compare bind

e. : to lay (new type)

f. : to sort (mail) into a case

2. : to strip the skin from specifically by making a single slit along the hind legs from heel to heel rather than along the belly

3. : to line (a shaft or well) with supporting material (as metal pipe)

4. : to order (tobacco leaf)

5. slang

a. : to inspect or study especially with a view to the commission of a crime

the bank was carefully cased before the robbery

b. : to inspect or examine closely : canvass

6. : to cover the compost in (a mushroom bed) with a thin layer of soil to induce fruiting after the mycelium from the spawn has penetrated the bed

7. : to keep track of (cards played)

IV. noun

1. : one of a set of relational semantic categories in the deep structure of a sentence that help determine the meaning of the sentence

2. : oneself considered as an object of harassment

get off my case

they'd been on his case ever since his school grades had started to drop — New Yorker

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.