I. NOUN USES
/kɔ:(r)t/
( courts)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
A court is a place where legal matters are decided by a judge and jury or by a magistrate.
At this rate, we could find ourselves in the divorce courts!
...a county court judge...
He was deported on a court order following a conviction for armed robbery...
The 28-year-old striker was in court last week for breaking a rival player’s jaw.
N-COUNT : oft n N , N n , also in/at N
2.
You can refer to the people in a court, especially the judge, jury, or magistrates, as a court .
A court at Tampa, Florida has convicted five officials on drugs charges.
N-COUNT
3.
A court is an area in which you play a game such as tennis, basketball, badminton, or squash.
The hotel has several tennis and squash courts...
She watched a few of the games while waiting to go on court.
N-COUNT : usu supp N , also on/off N
4.
The court of a king or queen is the place where he or she lives and carries out ceremonial or administrative duties.
She came to visit England, where she was presented at the court of James I...
N-COUNT : oft with poss , also at N
5.
see also Crown Court , High Court , kangaroo court
6.
If you go to court or take someone to court , you take legal action against them.
They have received at least twenty thousand pounds each but had gone to court to demand more.
...members of trade associations who want to take bad debtors to court.
PHRASE : V inflects
7.
If someone holds court in a place, they are surrounded by a lot of people who are paying them a lot of attention because they are interesting or famous.
...in the days when Marlene Dietrich and Ernest Hemingway held court in the famous El Floridita club.
PHRASE : V inflects
8.
If a legal matter is decided or settled out of court , it is decided without legal action being taken in a court of law.
...a payment of two million pounds in an out of court settlement.
PHRASE : PHR after v , PHR n
II. VERB USES
/kɔ:(r)t/
( courts, courting, courted)
1.
To court a particular person, group, or country means to try to please them or improve your relations with them, often so that they will do something that you want them to do. ( JOURNALISM )
Both Democratic and Republican parties are courting former supporters of Ross Perot...
VERB : V n
2.
If you court something such as publicity or popularity, you try to attract it.
Having spent a lifetime avidly courting publicity, Paul has suddenly become secretive.
VERB : V n
3.
If you court something unpleasant such as disaster or unpopularity, you act in a way that makes it likely to happen.
If he thinks he can remain in power by force he is courting disaster...
= invite
VERB : V n