The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Cause \Cause\ (k[add]z), n. [F. cause, fr. L. causa. Cf.
   Cause, v., Kickshaw.]
   1. That which produces or effects a result; that from which
      anything proceeds, and without which it would not exist.
      [1913 Webster]

            Cause is substance exerting its power into act, to
            make one thing begin to be.           --Locke.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. That which is the occasion of an action or state; ground;
      reason; motive; as, cause for rejoicing.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Sake; interest; advantage. [Obs.]
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            I did it not for his cause.           --2 Cor. vii.
                                                  12.
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   4. (Law) A suit or action in court; any legal process by
      which a party endeavors to obtain his claim, or what he
      regards as his right; case; ground of action.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. Any subject of discussion or debate; matter; question;
      affair in general.
      [1913 Webster]

            What counsel give you in this weighty cause! --Shak.
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   6. The side of a question, which is espoused, advocated, and
      upheld by a person or party; a principle which is
      advocated; that which a person or party seeks to attain.
      [1913 Webster]

            God befriend us, as our cause is just. --Shak.
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            The part they take against me is from zeal to the
            cause.                                --Burke.
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   Efficient cause, the agent or force that produces a change
      or result.

   Final cause, the end, design, or object, for which anything
      is done.

   Formal cause, the elements of a conception which make the
      conception or the thing conceived to be what it is; or the
      idea viewed as a formative principle and cooperating with
      the matter.

   Material cause, that of which anything is made.

   Proximate cause. See under Proximate.

   To make common cause with, to join with in purposes and
      aims. --Macaulay.

   Syn: Origin; source; mainspring; motive; reason; incitement;
        inducement; purpose; object; suit; action.
        [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Cause \Cause\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Caused; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Causing.] [F. causer, fr. cause, fr. L. causa. See Cause,
   n., and cf. Acouse.]
   To effect as an agent; to produce; to be the occasion of; to
   bring about; to bring into existence; to make; -- usually
   followed by an infinitive, sometimes by that with a finite
   verb.
   [1913 Webster]

         I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days.
                                                  --Gen. vii. 4.
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         Cause that it be read also in the church of the
         Laodiceans.                              --Col. iv. 16.

   Syn: To create; produce; beget; effect; occasion; originate;
        induce; bring about.
        [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Cause \Cause\, v. i.
   To assign or show cause; to give a reason; to make excuse.
   [Obs.] --Spenser.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Cause \Cause\, conj.
   Abbreviation of Because. --B. Jonson.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

cause
    n 1: events that provide the generative force that is the origin
         of something; "they are trying to determine the cause of
         the crash"
    2: a justification for something existing or happening; "he had
       no cause to complain"; "they had good reason to rejoice"
       [syn: cause, reason, grounds]
    3: a series of actions advancing a principle or tending toward a
       particular end; "he supported populist campaigns"; "they
       worked in the cause of world peace"; "the team was ready for
       a drive toward the pennant"; "the movement to end slavery";
       "contributed to the war effort" [syn: campaign, cause,
       crusade, drive, movement, effort]
    4: any entity that produces an effect or is responsible for
       events or results [syn: causal agent, cause, causal
       agency]
    5: 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]
    v 1: give rise to; cause to happen or occur, not always
         intentionally; "cause a commotion"; "make a stir"; "cause
         an accident" [syn: cause, do, make]
    2: cause to do; cause to act in a specified manner; "The ads
       induced me to buy a VCR"; "My children finally got me to buy
       a computer"; "My wife made me buy a new sofa" [syn: induce,
       stimulate, cause, have, get, make]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

161 Moby Thesaurus words for "cause":
   accomplish, achieve, act, action, activity, agency, agent,
   ambition, antecedent, aspiration, author, basis, be productive,
   bear, beget, belief, bind, breed, bring about, bring forth,
   bring into being, bring on, bring to effect, bring to fruition,
   bring to pass, call, call forth, call up, calling, campaign, case,
   cause in court, cause to, commitment, compel, conceive, concern,
   consideration, constrain, create, creator, crusade, determinant,
   do, draw on, drive, effect, effectuate, elicit, enforce, engender,
   engineer, establish, evoke, execute, faith, father, force, found,
   foundation, generate, generator, genesis, gestate, get up,
   give birth to, give occasion to, give origin to, give rise to,
   goad, goal, good reason, great cause, ground, grounds,
   guiding light, guiding star, hatch, have, ideal, impel, impulse,
   inaugurate, incentive, induce, inducement, industrialize,
   inspiration, inspire, institute, intention, interest, issue,
   judicial process, justification, lawsuit, lead to, legal action,
   legal case, legal proceedings, legal process, legal remedy,
   lifework, litigation, lodestar, mainspring, make, mass movement,
   mass-produce, material basis, matter, motivate, motive, movement,
   muster up, necessity, obligation, occasion, origin, originate,
   originator, overproduce, perform, precipitate, prime mover,
   principle, proceedings, produce, producer, promote, prompt,
   prosecution, provoke, realize, reason, reason for being, restrain,
   right, root, sake, score, secure, set afloat, set on foot, set up,
   sire, source, spring, substance, suit, suit at law, summon up, tie,
   ulterior motive, undertaking, use force upon, vocation,
   volume-produce, warrant, work, work up



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

CAUSE, civ. law. This word has two meanings. 1. It signifies the delivery of

the thing, or the accomplishment of the act which is the object of a
convention. Datio vel factum, quibus ab una parte conventio, impleri caepta
est. 6 Toull. n. 13, 166. 2. it is the consideration or motive for making a
contract. An obligation without a cause, or with a false or unlawful cause,
has no effect; but an engagement is not the less valid, though the cause be
not expressed. The cause is illicit, when it is forbidden by law, when it is
contra bones mores, or public order. Dig. 2, 14, 7, 4; Civ. Code of Lo. a.
1887-1894 Code Civil, liv. 3, c. 2, s. 4, art. 1131-1133; Toull. liv. 3,
tit. 3, c. 2, s. 4.



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

CAUSE, pleading.The reason; the motive.
     2. In a replication de injuria, for example, the plaintiff alleges that
the defendant of his own wrong, and without the cause by him in his plea
alleged, did, &c. The word cause here means without the matter of excuse
alleged, and though in the singular number, it puts in issue all the facts
in the plea, which constitute but one cause. 8 Co. 67; 11 East, 451; 1 Chit.
Pl. 585.



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

CAUSE, contra torts, crim. That which produces an effect.
     2. In considering a contract, an injury, or a crime, the law for many
purposes looks to the immediate, and not to any remote cause. Bac. Max. Reg.
1; Bac. Ab. Damages, E; Sid. 433; 2 Taunt. 314. If the cause be lawful, the
party will be justified; if unlawful, he will be condemned. The following is
an example in criminal law of an immediate and remote cause. If Peter, of
malice prepense, should discharge a pistol at Paul, and miss him, and then
cast away the pistol and fly and, being pursued by Paul, he turn round, and
kill him with a dagger, the law considers the first as the impulsive cause,
and Peter would be guilty of murder. But if Peter, with his dagger drawn,
had fallen down, and Paul in his haste had fallen upon it and killed
himself, the cause of Paul's death would have been too remote to charge
Peter as the murderer. Id.
     3. In cases of insurance, the general rule is that the immediate and
not the remote cause of the loss is to be considered; causa proximo non
remota spedatur. This rule may, in some cases, apply to carriers. Story,
Bailm. Sec. 515.
     4. For the reach of contracts, the contractor is liable for the
immediate effects of such breach, but not for any remote cause, as the
failure of a party who was to receive money, and did not receive it, in
consequence of which he was compelled to stop payment. 1 Brock. Cir. C. Rep.
103. See Remote; and also Domat, liv. 3, t. 5, s. 2, n. 4; Toull. liv. 3, n.
286; 6 Bing. R. 716; 6 Ves. 496; Pal. Ag. by Lloyd, 10; Story, Ag. Sec. 200;
3 Sumn. R. 38.



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

CAUSE, practice. A Contested question before a court of justice; it is a
Suit or action. Causes are civil or criminal. Wood's Civ. Law, 302; Code, 2,
416.