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