[syn: encase, incase, case]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Case \Case\, n. [F. cas, fr. L. casus, fr. cadere to fall, to
happen. Cf. Chance.]
1. Chance; accident; hap; opportunity. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
By aventure, or sort, or cas. --Chaucer.
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2. That which befalls, comes, or happens; an event; an
instance; a circumstance, or all the circumstances;
condition; state of things; affair; as, a strange case; a
case of injustice; the case of the Indian tribes.
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In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge.
--Deut. xxiv.
13.
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If the case of the man be so with his wife. --Matt.
xix. 10.
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And when a lady's in the case
You know all other things give place. --Gay.
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You think this madness but a common case. --Pope.
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I am in case to justle a constable, --Shak.
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3. (Med. & Surg.) A patient under treatment; an instance of
sickness or injury; as, ten cases of fever; also, the
history of a disease or injury.
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A proper remedy in hypochondriacal cases.
--Arbuthnot.
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4. (Law) The matters of fact or conditions involved in a
suit, as distinguished from the questions of law; a suit
or action at law; a cause.
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Let us consider the reason of the case, for nothing
is law that is not reason. --Sir John
Powell.
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Not one case in the reports of our courts. --Steele.
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5. (Gram.) One of the forms, or the inflections or changes of
form, of a noun, pronoun, or adjective, which indicate its
relation to other words, and in the aggregate constitute
its declension; the relation which a noun or pronoun
sustains to some other word.
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Case is properly a falling off from the nominative
or first state of word; the name for which, however,
is now, by extension of its signification, applied
also to the nominative. --J. W. Gibbs.
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Note: Cases other than the nominative are oblique cases. Case
endings are terminations by which certain cases are
distinguished. In old English, as in Latin, nouns had
several cases distinguished by case endings, but in
modern English only that of the possessive case is
retained.
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Action on the case (Law), according to the old
classification (now obsolete), was an action for redress
of wrongs or injuries to person or property not specially
provided against by law, in which the whole cause of
complaint was set out in the writ; -- called also
trespass on the case, or simply case.
All a case, a matter of indifference. [Obs.] "It is all a
case to me." --L'Estrange.
Case at bar. See under Bar, n.
Case divinity, casuistry.
Case lawyer, one versed in the reports of cases rather than
in the science of the law.
Case stated or Case agreed on (Law), a statement in
writing of facts agreed on and submitted to the court for
a decision of the legal points arising on them.
A hard case, an abandoned or incorrigible person. [Colloq.]
In any case, whatever may be the state of affairs; anyhow.
In case, or In case that, if; supposing that; in the
event or contingency; if it should happen that. "In case
we are surprised, keep by me." --W. Irving.
In good case, in good condition, health, or state of body.
To put a case, to suppose a hypothetical or illustrative
case.
Syn: Situation, condition, state; circumstances; plight;
predicament; occurrence; contingency; accident; event;
conjuncture; cause; action; suit.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Case \Case\ (k[=a]s), n. [OF. casse, F. caisse (cf. It. cassa),
fr. L. capsa chest, box, case, fr. capere to take, hold. See
Capacious, and cf. 4th Chase, Cash, Enchase, 3d
Sash.]
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1. A box, sheath, or covering; as, a case for holding goods;
a case for spectacles; the case of a watch; the case
(capsule) of a cartridge; a case (cover) for a book.
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2. A box and its contents; the quantity contained in a box;
as, a case of goods; a case of instruments.
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3. (Print.) A shallow tray divided into compartments or
"boxes" for holding type.
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Note: Cases for type are usually arranged in sets of two,
called respectively the upper and the lower case. The
upper case contains capitals, small capitals,
accented and marked letters, fractions, and marks of
reference: the lower case contains the small letters,
figures, marks of punctuation, quadrats, and spaces.
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4. An inclosing frame; a casing; as, a door case; a window
case.
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5. (Mining) A small fissure which admits water to the
workings. --Knight.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Case \Case\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cased; p. pr. & vb. n.
Casing.]
1. To cover or protect with, or as with, a case; to inclose.
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The man who, cased in steel, had passed whole days
and nights in the saddle. --Prescott.
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2. To strip the skin from; as, to case a box. [Obs.]
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Case \Case\, v. i.
To propose hypothetical cases. [Obs.] "Casing upon the
matter." --L'Estrange.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
case
n 1: an occurrence of something; "it was a case of bad
judgment"; "another instance occurred yesterday"; "but
there is always the famous example of the Smiths" [syn:
case, instance, example]
2: a special set of circumstances; "in that event, the first
possibility is excluded"; "it may rain in which case the
picnic will be canceled" [syn: event, case]
3: a comprehensive term for any proceeding in a court of law
whereby an individual seeks a legal remedy; "the family
brought suit against the landlord" [syn: lawsuit, suit,
case, cause, causa]
4: the actual state of things; "that was not the case"
5: a portable container for carrying several objects; "the
musicians left their instrument cases backstage"
6: a person requiring professional services; "a typical case was
the suburban housewife described by a marriage counselor"
7: a person who is subjected to experimental or other
observational procedures; someone who is an object of
investigation; "the subjects for this investigation were
selected randomly"; "the cases that we studied were drawn
from two different communities" [syn: subject, case,
guinea pig]
8: a problem requiring investigation; "Perry Mason solved the
case of the missing heir"
9: a statement of facts and reasons used to support an argument;
"he stated his case clearly"
10: the quantity contained in a case [syn: case, caseful]
11: nouns or pronouns or adjectives (often marked by inflection)
related in some way to other words in a sentence [syn:
case, grammatical case]
12: a specific state of mind that is temporary; "a case of the
jitters"
13: a person of a specified kind (usually with many
eccentricities); "a real character"; "a strange character";
"a friendly eccentric"; "the capable type"; "a mental case"
[syn: character, eccentric, type, case]
14: a specific size and style of type within a type family [syn:
font, fount, typeface, face, case]
15: an enveloping structure or covering enclosing an animal or
plant organ or part [syn: sheath, case]
16: the housing or outer covering of something; "the clock has a
walnut case" [syn: shell, case, casing]
17: the enclosing frame around a door or window opening; "the
casings had rotted away and had to be replaced" [syn:
casing, case]
18: (printing) the receptacle in which a compositor has his
type, which is divided into compartments for the different
letters, spaces, or numbers; "for English, a compositor will
ordinarily have two such cases, the upper case containing
the capitals and the lower case containing the small
letters" [syn: case, compositor's case, typesetter's
case]
19: bed linen consisting of a cover for a pillow; "the burglar
carried his loot in a pillowcase" [syn: case,
pillowcase, slip, pillow slip]
20: a glass container used to store and display items in a shop
or museum or home [syn: case, display case, showcase,
vitrine]
v 1: look over, usually with the intention to rob; "They men
cased the housed"
2: enclose in, or as if in, a case; "my feet were encased in
mud" [syn: encase, incase, case]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
583 Moby Thesaurus words for "case":
Bible truth, Smyth sewing, abessive, ablative, absolute fact,
accepted fact, accusative, action, actual fact, adessive,
admitted fact, afghan, alien, allative, ammunition box, anyhow,
anyway, apoplectic, approximative, argument, argumentum, ark,
arthritic, article, ascender, aspect, at all events, attache case,
axiom, back, backing, bag, bald fact, bandolier, bare fact, bark,
barrel, basis, basket, bastard type, beard, bearings, bed linen,
bedclothes, bedcover, bedding, bedsheet, bedspread, belly, bevel,
bibliopegy, billfold, bin, binder board, binding, black letter,
blanket, body, book cloth, book cover, book jacket, bookbinding,
bookcase, boot, bottle, box, box up, bran, briefcase, brutal fact,
buffalo robe, bug, bunker, burden, cadre, caisson, calf love, can,
canister, canvass, cap, capital, capsula, capsule, cardcase,
carton, case in point, casemaking, casement, casing, casing-in,
cask, casket, cause, cause in court, cedar chest, chaff, chapter,
character, chassis, check over, check up, chest, cigarette case,
circumstance, cist, citation, clothes, coffer, coffin, cold fact,
collating, collating mark, come what may, comfort, comforter,
common case, compact, con, conceded fact, concern, condition, cone,
cons, consideration, consumptive, container, containerize,
contour sheet, corn shuck, cornhusk, count, counter, counterpane,
cover, covering, coverlet, coverlid, crackpot, crank, crate, crib,
cross reference, crush, dative, datum, delative, demonstrable fact,
demonstration, descender, detail, dinkum oil, dispatch box,
dispute, doorframe, duck, dust cover, dust jacket, dyspeptic,
eccentric, eiderdown, elative, element, elenchus, em, emblem,
embox, embrace, empirical fact, en, encapsulate, encase,
encasement, encyst, enfold, enshroud, envelop, envelope, enwrap,
epileptic, episode, essence, essive, established fact, estate,
etui, event, eventuality, examine, example, exemplar,
exemplification, explanation, exponent, fabric, face, facet, fact,
fact of experience, factor, fanatic, fat-faced type, feet, file,
file folder, filing box, fitted sheet, fix, focus of attention,
focus of interest, folding, folio, font, footband, footing,
for fear of, for fear that, frame, framework, framing, gathering,
genitive, gist, given fact, gluing-off, gospel, gospel truth,
groove, hamper, happening, hard binding, hard fact, head, headband,
heading, hermit, hobo, holder, holster, hope chest, housewife,
how it is, how things are, hull, husk, hussy, hutch, if,
ignoratio elenchi, illative, illustration, in any case,
in any event, in case, incident, incidental, incurable,
indisputable fact, inescapable fact, inessive, infatuation,
inpatient, inspect, instance, instrumental, invalid, invest, issue,
italic, item, jacket, jam, jar, judicial process, kit, kook, lap,
lap robe, lative, lattice, latticework, lawsuit, legal action,
legal case, legal proceedings, legal process, legal remedy, lest,
letter, letter file, library binding, ligature, like it is, linen,
lining, lining-up, litigation, living issue, local case, location,
locative, logotype, lone wolf, loner, lot, lower case, main point,
majuscule, make a reconnaissance, mash, matter, matter in hand,
matter of fact, maverick, meat, mechanical binding, meshuggenah,
minor detail, minuscule, minutia, minutiae, modality, mode,
monstrance, motif, motive, naked fact, natural, nick, niggerhead,
nominative, nonconformist, not guesswork, not opinion, nut,
object lesson, objective case, oblique case, occasion, occurrence,
odd fellow, oddball, oddity, order, original, ostensorium,
outpatient, outsider, pack, package, packet, packing case, palea,
parcel, pariah, particular, pash, pass, passing fancy,
patchwork quilt, patient, peel, peep, perfect binding, perlative,
pi, pica, pickle, picture frame, pillbox, pillow slip, pillowcase,
place, plaidoyer, plain, plastic binding, play the spy, plea,
pleading, plight, pod, point, point at issue, point in question,
portfolio, position, positive fact, possessive case, postulate,
posture, pot, powder box, predicament, prepositional, print,
problem, proceedings, pros, pros and cons, prosecution, protection,
provable fact, puppy love, put under surveillance, queer duck,
queer fish, queer specimen, question, quilt, quiver, quiz,
quotation, rack, rank, rara avis, reason, receptacle, reconnoiter,
reference, refutation, regard, relevant instance, reliquary,
repair, representative, respect, revealed truth, rheumatic, rind,
robe, roman, rounding, rubric, rug, sack, saddle stitching,
salient fact, sample, sampling, sans serif, sarcophagus, sash,
scabbard, scout, scout out, screwball, script, self-evident fact,
sewing, shank, shape, sheath, sheathe, sheathing, sheet, sheeting,
shell, shoulder, shroud, shuck, shut-in, sick person, side sewing,
signature, significant fact, simple fact, situation, skeleton,
skin, skippet, slip, slipcase, slipcover, slough, small cap,
small capital, smashing, smother, snuffbox, sober fact, socket,
soft binding, solitary, spastic, special pleading, specimen,
spectacle case, spiral binding, spook, spot, spread, spy, spy out,
stake out, stamp, stamping, standing, stapling, state, station,
status, stem, stubborn fact, study, subject, subject case,
subject matter, subject of thought, sublative, sufferer, suit,
suit at law, suitcase, superessive, surround, swaddle, swathe,
symbol, tailband, talking point, tank, tea chest, terminal case,
terminative, text, the absolute truth, the case, the exact truth,
the hard truth, the honest truth, the intrinsic truth,
the naked truth, the nitty-gritty, the plain truth, the sick,
the simple truth, the sober truth, the stern truth, the truth,
the unalloyed truth, the unqualified truth, the unvarnished truth,
theme, thing, till, tin, tinderbox, tipping, topic, tramp,
translative, trimming, trunk, type, type body, type class,
type lice, typecase, typeface, typefounders, typefoundry,
typical example, undeniable fact, upper case, valetudinarian,
vanity case, vasculum, vet, victim, view, vocative, wallet, watch,
well-known fact, window case, window frame, wire stitching, wrap,
wrap about, wrap up, wrapper, zealot, zombie
V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (February 2016):
CASE
Common Application Service Element (ISO, OSI)
V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (February 2016):
CASE
Computer Aided Software Engineering
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
CASE
1. Computer Aided Software Engineering.
2. Common Application Service Element.
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
case
1. switch statement.
2. Whether a character is a capital letter ("upper
case" - ABC..Z) or a small letter ("lower case" - abc..z).
The term case comes from the printing trade when the use of
moving type was invented in the early Middle Ages (Caxton or
Gutenberg?) and the letters for each font were stored in a
box with two sections (or "cases"), the upper case was for the
capital letters and the lower case was for the small letters.
The Oxford Universal Dictionary of Historical Principles (Feb
1993, reprinted 1952) indicates that this usage of "case" (as
the box or frame used by a compositor in the printing trade)
was first used in 1588.
(1996-03-01)
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
CASE practice. A contested question before a court of justice, a suit or
action, a cause. 9 Wheat. 738.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
CASE, remedies. This is the name of an action in very general use, which
lies where a party sues for damages for any wrong or cause of complaint to
which covenant or trespass will not lie. Steph. Pl. 153 Wodd. 167 Ham. N. P.
1. Vide Writ of trespass on the case. In its most comprehensive
signification, case includes assumpsit as well as an action in form ex
delicto; but when simply mentioned, it is usually understood to mean an
action in form ex delicto. 7 T. R. 36. It is a liberal action; Burr, 906,
1011 1 Bl. Rep. 199; bailable at common law. 2 Barr 927-8; founded on the
justice and conscience of the Tiff's case, and is in the nature of a bill in
equity 3 Burr, 1353, 1357 and the substance of a count in case is the damage
assigned. 1 Bl. Rep. 200.
2. An action on the case lies to recover damages for torts not
committed with force actual or implied, or having been occasioned by force,
where the matter affected was not tangible, or where the injury was not
immediate but consequential; 11 Mass. 59, 137 1 Yeates, 586; 6 S. & R. 348;
12 S. & R. 210; 18 John. 257 19 John. 381; 6 Call, 44; 2 Dana, 378 1 Marsh.
194; 2 H. & M. 423; Harper, 113; Coxe, 339; or where the interest in the
property was only in reversion. 8 Pick. 235; 7 Conn. 3282 Green, 8 1 John.
511; 3 Hawks, 2462 Murph. 61; 2 N. H. Rep. 430. In these several cases
trespass cannot be sustained. 4 T. 11. 489 7 T. R. 9. Case is also the
proper remedy for a wrongful act done under legal process regularly issuing
from a court of competent jurisdiction. 2 Conn. 700 11 Mass. 500 6 Greenl.
421; 1 Bailey, 441, 457; 9 Conn. 141; 2 Litt. 234; 3 Conn. 5373 Gill & John.
377. Vide Regular and irregular process.
3. It will be proper to consider, 1. in what cases the action of
trespass on the case lies; 2. the pleadings 3. the evidence; 4. the
judgment.
4.-1. This action lies for injuries, 1. to the absolute rights of
persons 2. to the relative rights of persons; 3. to personal property; 4. to
real property.
5.-1. When the injury has been done to the absolute rights of persons
by an act not immediate but consequential, as in the case of special damages
arising from a public nuisance Willes, 71 to 74 or where an incumbrance had
been placed in a public street, and the plaintiff passing there received an
injury; or for a malicious prosecution. See malicious prosecution.
6.-2. For injuries to the relative rights, as for enticing away an
infant child, per quod servitium amisit, 4 Litt. 25; for criminal
conversation, seducing or harboring wives; debauching daughters, but in this
case the daughter must live with her father as his servant, see Seduction;
or enticing away or harboring apprentices or servants. 1 Chit. Pl. 137 2
Chit. Plead. 313, 319. When the seduction takes place in the husband's or
father's house, he may, at his election, have trespass or case; 6 Munf. 587;
Gilmer, but when the injury is done in the house of another, case is the
proper remedy. 5 Greenl. 546.
7.-3. When the injury to personal property is without force and. not
immediate, but consequential, or when the plaintiff Is right to it is in
reversion, as, where property is injured by a third person while in the
hands of a hirer; 3 Camp. 187; 2 Murph. 62; 3 Hawks, 246, case is the proper
remedy. 8 East, 693; Ld. Raym. 1399; Str. 634; 1 Chit. Pl. 138.
8.-4. When the real property which has been injured is corporeal, and
the injury is not immediate but consequential, as for example, putting a
spout so near the plaintiff's land that the water runs upon it; 1 Chit. Pl.
126, 141; Str. 634; or where the plaintiff's property is only in reversion.
When the injury has been done to, incorporeal rights, as for obstructing a
private way, or disturbing a party in the use of a pew, or for injury to a
franchise, as a ferry, and the like, case is the proper remedy. l Chit. Pl.
143.
9.-2. The declaration in case, technically so called, differs from a
declaration in trespass, chiefly in this, that in case, it must not, in
general, state the injury to have been committed vi et armis; 3 Conn. 64;
see 2 Ham. 169; 11 Mass. 57; Coxe, 339; yet after verdict, the words "with
force and arms" will, be rejected as surplusage; Harp. 122; and it ought not
to conclude contra pacem. Com. Dig. Action on the Case, C 3. The plea is
usually the general issue, not guilty.
10.-3. Any matter may, in general, be given in evidence, under the
plea of not guilty, except the statute of limitations. In cases of slander
and a few other instances, however, this cannot be done. 1 Saund. 130, n. 1;
Wilies, 20. When the plaintiff declares in case, with averments appropriate
to that form of action and the evidence shows that the injury was trespass;
or when he declares in trespass, and the evidence proves an injury for which
case will lie, and not trespass, the defendant should be acquitted by the
jury, or the plaintiff should be nonsuited. 5 Mass. 560; 16 Mass. 451; Coxe,
339; 3 John. 468.
11.-4. The judgment is, that the plaintiff recover a sum of money,
ascertained by a jury, for his damages sustained by the committing of the
grievances complained of in the declaration, and costs.
12. In the civil law, an action was given in all cases of nominate
contracts, which was always of the same name. But in innominate contracts,
which had always the same consideration, but not the same name, there could
be no action of the same denomination, but an action which arose from the
fact, in factum, or an action with a form which arose from the particular
circumstance, praescriptis verbis actio. Lec. Elem. Sec. 779. Vide,
generally, Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
CASE, STATED, practice. An agreement in writing, between a plaintiff and
defendant, that the facts in dispute between them are as there agreed upon
and mentioned, 3 Whart. 143.
2. The facts being thus ascertained, it is left for the court to decide
for which party is the law. As no writ of error lies on a judgment rendered
on a case stated, Dane's Ab. c. 137, art. 4, n. Sec. 7, it is usual in the
agreement to insert a clause that the case stated shall be considered in the
nature of special verdict.
3. In that case, a writ of error lies on the judgment which may be
rendered upon it. And a writ of error will also lie on a judgment on a case
stated, when the parties have agreed to it. 8 Serg. & Rawle, 529.
4. In another sense, by a case stated is understood a statement of all
the facts of a case, together with the names of the witnesses, and, a detail
of the documents which are to support them. In other words, it is a brief.
(q.v.)