law

noun24

1. •
   all the rules that a country or community makes and that its people must follow

   • The courts interpret the law but should not make it.
   • In theory, entrapment is against the law.
2. •
   The body of such rules that pertain to a particular topic.
3. •
   Common law, as contrasted with equity.
4. •
   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.
5. •
   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.
6. •
   Jurisprudence, the field of knowledge which encompasses these rules.

   • She went to university to study law.
7. •
   A statement (in physics, etc) of an (observed, established) order or sequence or relationship of phenomena which is invariable under certain conditions. (Compare theory.)

   • 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 his general theory expounded in the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
8. •
   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.
9. •
   Any statement of the relation of acts and conditions to their consequences.
10. •
    A sound law; a regular change in the pronunciation of a language.

    • Grimm's law
    • Dahl's law
11. •
    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.
12. •
    A rule.
13. •
    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.
14. •
    A rule or principle regarding the construction of language or art.

    • The normal pronoun to use with "spirit" would be "it." But Jesus breaks the law of grammar and says not "when it," but "when he." — 1997
15. •
    One of the official rules of cricket as codified by the its (former) governing body, the MCC.
16. •
    (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!
    • then the law arrived on the scene
17. •
    Litigation; legal action (as a means of maintaining or restoring order, redressing wrongs, etc.).

    • They were quick to go to law.
18. •
    One of two metaphysical forces ruling the world in some fantasy settings, also called order, and opposed to chaos.
19. •
    A mode of operation of the flight controls of a fly-by-wire aircraft.
20. •
    (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”.)

    • As to the depriving the defendant of waging his law, it was thought, the practice merited discouragement, as a temptation to perjury. — 1793
21. •
    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.
22. •
    (no longer used) A tumulus of stones.
23. •
    (Scotland, no longer used) A hill.

    • [Y]ou might climb the Law, where the whale's jawbone stood landmark in the buzzing wind, and behold the face of many counties, and the smoke and spires of many towns, and the sails of distant ships. — 1892
24. •
    (dialect, no longer used) A score; share of expense; legal charge.

verb5

1. •
   (dialect) To prosecute or sue (someone), to litigate.

   • Your husband's … so given to lawing, they say. I doubt he'll leave you poorly off when he dies. — 1860
2. •
   (informal) To enforce the law.

   • De gram jury lawed me all de time an' dat place got too hot. — 1918
3. •
   To rule over (with a certain effect) by law; to govern.

   • Nicholas Downton (February 1615) says of the people of Surat: "a mixt people, quiet, peaceable, very subtle; civil, and universally governed under one King, but diversely lawed and customed". — 1979
4. •
   To subject to legal restrictions.

   • Insurance may fairly be said to head the list of objects of legislative interference. It has been lawed and lawed until it is nearly outlawed, and the cry for more continues to go up unsatisfied — 1895
5. •
   (no longer used) To work as a lawyer; to practice law.

   • That was in 1877 you were lawing with Herdick? — 1889

exclamation1

1. •
   (old-fashioned) An exclamation of mild surprise; lawks; in interjections, a minced oath for Lord.

   • ‘Do tell me once for all, whether you intend to marry Mr Watts or not?’ ‘Law Mama, how can I tell you what I don't know myself?’ — 1791

noun1

1. •
   Acronym of light anti-tank weapon.