The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Inn \Inn\ ([i^]n), n. [AS. in, inn, house, chamber, inn, from
AS. in in; akin to Icel. inni house. See In.]
1. A place of shelter; hence, dwelling; habitation;
residence; abode. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
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Therefore with me ye may take up your inn
For this same night. --Spenser.
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2. A house for the lodging and entertainment of travelers or
wayfarers; a tavern; a public house; a hotel.
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Note: As distinguished from a private boarding house, an inn
is a house for the entertainment of all travelers of
good conduct and means of payment, as guests for a
brief period, not as lodgers or boarders by contract.
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The miserable fare and miserable lodgment of a
provincial inn. --W. Irving.
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3. The town residence of a nobleman or distinguished person;
as, Leicester Inn. [Eng.]
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4. One of the colleges (societies or buildings) in London,
for students of the law barristers; as, the Inns of Court;
the Inns of Chancery; Serjeants' Inns.
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Inns of chancery (Eng.), colleges in which young students
formerly began their law studies, now occupied chiefly bp
attorn`ys, solocitors, etc.
Inns of court (Eng.), the four societies of "students and
practicers of the law of England" which in London exercise
the exclusive right of admitting persons to practice at
the bar; also, the buildings in which the law students and
barristers have their chambers. They are the Inner Temple,
the Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn, and Gray's Inn.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Chancery \Chan"cer*y\, n. [F. chancellerie, LL. cancellaria,
from L. cancellarius. See Chancellor, and cf.
Chancellery.]
1. In England, formerly, the highest court of judicature next
to the Parliament, exercising jurisdiction at law, but
chiefly in equity; but under the jurisdiction act of 1873
it became the chancery division of the High Court of
Justice, and now exercises jurisdiction only in equity.
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2. In the Unites States, a court of equity; equity;
proceeding in equity.
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Note: A court of chancery, so far as it is a court of equity,
in the English and American sense, may be generally, if
not precisely, described as one having jurisdiction in
cases of rights, recognized and protected by the
municipal jurisprudence, where a plain, adequate, and
complete remedy can not be had in the courts of common
law. In some of the American States, jurisdiction at
law and in equity centers in the same tribunal. The
courts of the United States also have jurisdiction both
at law and in equity, and in all such cases they
exercise their jurisdiction, as courts of law, or as
courts of equity, as the subject of adjudication may
require. In others of the American States, the courts
that administer equity are distinct tribunals, having
their appropriate judicial officers, and it is to the
latter that the appellation courts of chancery is
usually applied; but, in American law, the terms equity
and court of equity are more frequently employed than
the corresponding terms chancery and court of chancery.
--Burrill.
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Inns of chancery. See under Inn.
To get (or to hold) In chancery (Boxing), to get the head
of an antagonist under one's arm, so that one can pommel
it with the other fist at will; hence, to have wholly in
One's power. The allusion is to the condition of a person
involved in the chancery court, where he was helpless,
while the lawyers lived upon his estate.
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