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’.