| law | |
| 1. n. The body of binding rules and regulations, customs and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities. | |
| the courts interpret the law; entrapment is against the law | |
| 2. n. The body of such rules that pertain to a particular topic. | |
| property law; commercial hunting and fishing law | |
| 3. n. Common law, as contrasted with equity. | |
| 4. n. A binding regulation or custom established in a community in this way. | |
| There is a law against importing wallabies. A new law forbids driving on that road. The court ruled that the executive order was not law and nullified it. | |
| 5. n. (more generally) (A rule, such as:) | |
| 6. n. Any rule that must or should be obeyed, concerning behaviours and their consequences. (Compare mores). | |
| "Do unto others as you wish them to do unto you" is a good law to follow. the law of self-preservation | |
| 7. n. A rule or principle regarding the construction of language or art. | |
| the laws of playwriting and poetry | |
| 8. n. A statement (in physics, etc) of an (observed, established) order or sequence or relationship of phenomena which is invariable under certain conditions | |
| the laws of thermodynamics | |
| Newton's third law of motion states that to every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction. This is one of several laws derived from | |
| 9. n. (mathematics, logic) A statement (of relation) that is true under specified conditions; a mathematical or logical rule. | |
| Mathematical laws can be proved purely through mathematics, without scientific experimentation. | |
| 10. n. Any statement of the relation of acts and conditions to their consequences. | |
| the law of scarcity; the law of supply and demand | |
| 11. n. (cricket) One of the official rules of cricket as codified by the its (former) governing body, the MCC. | |
| 12. n. The control and order brought about by the observance of such rules. | |
| They worked to maintain law and order. It was a territory without law, marked by violence. | |
| 13. n. (informal) A person or group that act(s) with authority to uphold such rules and order (for example, one or more police officers). | |
| Here comes the law — run! | |
| 14. n. The profession that deals with such rules (as lawyers, judges, police officers, etc). | |
| He is studying for a career in law. She has practiced law in New York for twenty years. | |
| 15. n. Jurisprudence, the field of knowledge which encompasses these rules. | |
| She went to university to study law. | |
| 16. n. Litigation, legal action (as a means of maintaining or restoring order, redressing wrongs, etc). | |
| They were quick to go to law. | |
| 17. n. (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. | |
| 18. n. (fantasy) One of two metaphysical forces ruling the world in some fantasy settings, also called order, and opposed to chaos. | |
| 19. n. (legal, chiefly historical) An oath sworn before a court, especially disclaiming a debt. (Chiefly in the phrases "wager of law)", "(m", "perform one's law", "lose one's law".) | |
| 20. v. (obsolete) To work as a lawyer; to practice law. | |
| 21. v. (ambitransitive, chiefly dialectal) To prosecute or sue (someone), to litigate. | |
| 22. v. (nonstandard) To rule over (with a certain effect) by law; govern. | |
| 23. v. (informal) To enforce the law. | |
| 24. v. To subject to legal restrictions. | |
| 25. n. (obsolete) A tumulus of stones. | |
| 26. n. (Scottish, and Northern England, archaic) A hill. | |
| 27. interj. (dated) An exclamation of mild surprise; lawks. | |
