case1
n.
- an instance of a particular situation; an example of something occurring:
a case of mistaken identity.
▸the situation affecting or relating to a particular person or thing:
I'll make an exception in your case.
▸an incident under official investigation by the police.
- an instance of a disease, injury, or problem.
▸a person or their particular problem as a subject of medical or welfare attention.
- a legal action, especially one that is to be decided in a court of law.
▸a set of facts or arguments supporting one side in such a legal action.
▸a legal action that has been decided and may be cited as a precedent.
- a set of facts or arguments supporting one side of a debate or controversy.
- Grammar any of the inflected forms of a noun, adjective, or pronoun that express the semantic relation of the word to other words in the sentence.
▸such a relation whether indicated by inflection or not.
Phrase
- be the case
be so. - on
(or off)
someone's case
informal continually (or no longer) criticizing or harassing someone.
Etymology
ME: from OFr. cas, from L. casus ‘fall’, rel. to cadere ‘to fall’.
case2
n.
- a container designed to hold or protect something.
▸the outer protective covering of a natural or manufactured object.
- a suitcase.
- a box containing twelve bottles of wine or other drink, sold as a unit.
- Printing a partitioned container for loose metal type.
▸each of the two forms, capital or minuscule, in which a letter of the alphabet may be written or printed.
v.
- enclose within a case.
- informal reconnoitre (a place) before carrying out a robbery.
Etymology
ME: from OFr. casse, chasse (mod. caisse ‘trunk, chest’, châsse ‘reliquary, frame’), from L. capsa, rel. to capere ‘to hold’.