law
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: lô
ipa: /lɔː/
rhymes: -ɔː
ipa: /laː/
ipa: [loː]
ipa: /lɔ/
enpr: lä
ipa: /lɑ/
ipa: /loː/
homophone: la (cot–caught merger)
homophone: lore (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger)
homophone: lure (non-rhotic, pour–poor merger)
Forms: form: laws
Etymology: From Middle English lawe, laȝe, from Old English lagu (“law”), borrowed from Old Norse lǫg (“law”, literally “things laid down or firmly established”), originally the plural of lag (“layer, stratum, a laying in order, measure, stroke”), from Proto-Germanic *lagą (“that which is laid down”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”). Cognate with Scots law (“law”), Icelandic lög (“things laid down, law”), Faroese lóg (“law”), Norwegian lov (“law”), Swedish lag (“law”), Danish lov (“law”), Finnish laki (“law”). Compare typologically distant cognate Russian уложе́ние (uložénije). Displaced native Old English ǣ and ġesetnes. More at lay.
Not related to legal, nor to French loi, Spanish ley, all of which ultimately derive from Latin lēx, from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to gather”).
Senses: examples: text: Not unnaturally, "Auntie" took this communication in bad part.[…]Next day she[…]tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head. Then, thwarted, the wretched creature went to the police for help; she was versed in the law, and perhaps had spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 361:
text: Here one comes upon an all-important English trait: the respect for constitutionalism and legality, the belief in "the law" as something above the State and above the individual, something which is cruel and stupid, of course, but at any rate incorruptible. It is not that anyone imagines the law to be just. Everyone knows that there is one law for the rich and another for the poor. But no one accepts the implications of this, everyone takes it for granted that the law, such as it is, will be respected, and feels a sense of outrage when it is not.
ref: 1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. I:
text: The courts interpret the law but should not make it.
text: In theory, entrapment is against the law.
glosses: The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities.
examples: text: property law
text: commercial hunting and fishing law
glosses: The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities.
The body of such rules that pertain to a particular topic.
glosses: The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities.
Common law, as contrasted with equity.
examples: text: There is a law against importing wallabies.
text: A new law forbids driving on that road.
text: The court ruled that the executive order was not law and nullified it.
text: As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish,[…]. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get.[…]I do not suppose that it matters much in reality whether laws are made by dukes or cornerboys, but I like, as far as possible, to associate with gentlemen in private life.
ref: 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:
glosses: A binding regulation or custom established in a community in this way.
examples: text: "Do unto others as you wish them to do unto you" is a good law to follow.
text: the law of self-preservation
glosses: A rule, such as:
Any rule that must or should be obeyed, concerning behaviours and their consequences. (Compare mores.)
examples: text: the laws of playwriting and poetry
text: The normal pronoun to use with "spirit" would be "it." But Jesus breaks the law of grammar and says not "when it," but "when he."
ref: 1997, Derek Prince, If you Want God's Best, →ISBN:
glosses: A rule, such as:
A rule or principle regarding the construction of language or art.
examples: text: Observing pi is easier than studying physical phenomena, because you can prove things in mathematics, whereas you can't prove anything in physics. And, unfortunately, the laws of physics change once every generation.
ref: 1992 March 2, Richard Preston, “The Mountains of Pi”, in The New Yorker:
text: the laws of thermodynamics
text: Newton's third law of motion states that to every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.
text: This is one of several laws derived from his general theory expounded in the Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
glosses: A rule, such as:
A statement (in physics, etc) of an (observed, established) order or sequence or relationship of phenomena which is invariable under certain conditions. (Compare theory.)
synonyms: word: law of nature
word: law
examples: text: Mathematical laws can be proved purely through mathematics, without scientific experimentation.
topics: human-sciences
logic
mathematics
philosophy
sciences
glosses: A rule, such as:
A statement (of relation) that is true under specified conditions; a mathematical or logical rule.
examples: text: the law of scarcity
text: the law of supply and demand
glosses: A rule, such as:
Any statement of the relation of acts and conditions to their consequences.
examples: text: Grimm's law
text: Dahl's law
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: A rule, such as:
A sound law; a regular change in the pronunciation of a language.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A rule, such as:
One of the official rules of cricket as codified by the its (former) governing body, the MCC.
examples: text: They worked to maintain law and order.
text: It was a territory without law, marked by violence.
glosses: The control and order brought about by the observance of such rules.
examples: text: Here comes the law — run!
text: then the law arrived on the scene
text: That was Joe's first confrontation with "The Law" / Naturally, we were easy on him / One of our friendly counsellors gave him a donut / And told him to stick closer / To church-oriented social activities
ref: 1979, Frank Zappa, “Joe's Garage”:
glosses: A person or group that act(s) with authority to uphold such rules and order (for example, one or more police officers).
examples: text: He is studying for a career in law.
text: She has practiced law in New York for twenty years.
glosses: The profession that deals with such rules (as lawyers, judges, police officers, etc).
examples: text: She went to university to study law.
glosses: Jurisprudence, the field of knowledge which encompasses these rules.
examples: text: They were quick to go to law.
glosses: Litigation; legal action (as a means of maintaining or restoring order, redressing wrongs, etc).
examples: text: After a few minutes' waiting, two well-known runners, chosen for the hares, buckled on the four bags filled with scent, compared their watches with those of young Brooke and Thome, and started off at a long, slinging trot across the fields in the direction of Barby. Then the hounds clustered round Thome, who explained shortly, "They're to have six minutes' law."
ref: 1889, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, page 150:
glosses: An allowance of distance or time (a head start) given to a weaker (human or animal) competitor in a race, to make the race more fair.
examples: text: normal law; alternate law; direct law
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: A mode of operation of the flight controls of a fly-by-wire aircraft.
topics: fantasy
glosses: One of two metaphysical forces ruling the world in some fantasy settings, also called order, and opposed to chaos.
examples: text: As to the depriving the defendant of waging his law, it was thought, the practice merited discouragement, as a temptation to perjury.
ref: 1793, Richard Wooddeson, A Systematical View of the Laws of England, page 169:
text: But, before the defendant takes the oath, the plaintiff is called by the crier thrice; and if he do not appear he becomes nonsuited, and then the defendant goes quit without taking his oath; and if he appear, and the defendant swear that he owes the plaintiff nothing, and the compurgators give it upon oath, that they believe he swears true, the plaintiff is barred for ever; for when a person has waged his law, it is as much as if a verdict had passed against the plaintiff; if the plaintiff do not appear to hear the defendant perform his law, so that he is nonsuit, he is not barred, but may bring a new action.
ref: 1846, Matthew Bacon, Sir Henry Gwilliam, Charles Edward Dodd, A New Abridgment of the Law with Large Additions and Corrections:
text: A withdrawal from a wager of law was an admission of the point as to which the law was waged; the defaulter also incurred a fine (i, 297).
ref: 2013, William Paley Baildon, Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield: Volume 2, 1297 to 1309, →ISBN, page ix:
topics: law
glosses: An oath sworn before a court, especially disclaiming a debt. (Chiefly in the phrases "wager of law", "wage one's law", "perform one's law", "lose one's law".)
Synonyms: word: act
word: canon
word: code
word: convention
word: constitution
word: corpus
word: decree
word: dictate
word: directive
word: doctrine
word: edict
word: enactment
word: guideline
word: legislation
word: mandate
word: maxim
word: order
word: ordinance
word: pandect
word: prescription
word: prohibition
word: regulation
word: rule
word: standard
word: statute
word: tenet
Derived terms: above the law
administrative law
admiralty law
against the law
alternate law
Amagat's law
Amara's law
Amdahl's law
Ammon's law
Ampère's circuital law
Ampère's force law
Ampère's law
arbitrary law
Arndt-Schulz law
as a matter of law
Ashby's Law
Ashby's law
astrolaw
attorney at law
attorney-at-law
Atwood's Law
Avogadro's law
Babo's law
Baby Moses law
bad facts make bad law
basic law
Basquin's law
Baxter's law
Bayes' law
Beer-Lambert-Bouguer law
Beer-Lambert law
Beer's law
below the law
Benford's law
Bennett's law
Betteridge's law
Betteridge's law of headlines
Betz's law
BigLaw
black-letter law
black letter law
blawg
blue law
blue-sky law
blue sky law
Bode's law
book law
Bouguer's law
Bowley's law
Boyle-Mariotte law
Boyle's law
Bradford's law
Bradford’s law
Bragg's law
Brandolini's law
Brewster's law
broken power law
Brooks's law
business law
Buys Ballot's law
bye-law
bylaw
by-law
canon law
Carnot's law
case law
Cassie's law
Charles' law
Charles's law
chemical law
Christian sharia law
chthonic law
civil law
civil law notary
club law
color of law
combined gas law
commercial law
common law
common-law
common-law marriage
company law
con law
conservation law
constitutional law
contract law
Conway's law
Cope's law
corn law
corn laws
corporate law
cosine law
Coulomb's law
Coulter's Law
counterlaw
court of law
Courvoisier's law
Cowgill's law
criminal law
cube-square law
Curie's law
Curie-Weiss law
customary international law
cyberlaw
Dahl's law
Dalton's law
Danth's law
Darcy's law
decisional law
De Morgan's law
de Morgan's laws
Descartes law
direct law
divine law
Dollo's law
due process of law
Duverger's law
Dybo's law
Eichner's law
e-law
Emmert's law
employment law
Engel's law
English and Welsh law
English law
Enoch Arden law
Eroom's law
Eurolaw
every law has a loophole
every law has its loophole
extreme risk law
family law
Faraday's law
Fechner's law
federal law
feudal law
Finagle's law
financial law
fiscal law
Fitts' law
Fitts's law
Fourier's law
framework law
gas law
Gauss's law
Gay-Lussac's law
Geiger-Nuttall law
Godwin's law
Gompertz-Makeham law
Goodhart's law
good law
Good Samaritan law
Graham's law
Granger law
granger law
Grassmann's law
Gresham's law
Grimm's law
Grosch's law
Grotthuss-Draper law
Gustafson's law
Haldane's law
hard cases make bad law
Hardy-Weinberg law
have the law of
have the law of someone
Healey's first law of holes
Healey's law
Heaps' law
heir-at-law
heir at law
Hellin's law
Henry's law
Henry's law constant
Hess's law
Hilt's law
Hirt's law
Hofstadter's law
Hooke's law
Hubble law
Hubble's law
Hume's law
Hyrum's law
ideal gas law
inheritance law
in-law
inlaw
international humanitarian law
international law
in the eyes of the law
in the name of the law
into law
inverse-square law
iron law
IT law
Jim Crow law
Jordan's law
Joule's law
judge-made law
Jurin's law
Kepler's law
Kepler's laws of planetary motion
Kerchoff's laws
Kirchhoff's current law
Kirchhoff's voltage law
Kluge's law
Knight-Darwin law
Kohlrausch's law
labor law
labour law
Lambert-Beer law
Lambert's cosine law
Lambert's emission law
Lambert's law
Lanchester's law
law abider
law-abiding
law agent
law and order
law-biding
law binding
lawbook
lawbot
lawbreaker
law-breaker
lawbreaking
law calf
lawclerk
law clerk
lawcode
law court
lawcraft
law day
law dictionary
law enforcement
law-enforcement
law-enforcer
lawfare
law firm
lawful
lawgiver
lawgiving
law Latin
law leather
lawless
lawlike
law list
law lord
Law Lord
lawly
lawmaker
law-maker
lawmaking
law merchant
lawmonger
law of attraction
law of averages
law of conservation of mass
law of contradiction
law of correspondence
law of cosines
law of diminishing marginal utility
law of diminishing returns
law of double negation
law of excluded middle
law of Hobson-Jobson
law of holes
law of identity
law of large numbers
law of love
law of majestas
law of markets
law of nations
law of nature
law of non-contradiction
law of noncontradiction
law of nontriviality
law of obligations
law of one
law of one price
law of parsimony
law of sines
law of small numbers
law of sufficient reason
law of tangents
law of the excluded middle
law of the jungle
law of the land
law of the Medes and the Persians
law of the sea
law of the tongue
law of unintended consequences
law of volumes
law of war
law review
lawscape
law school
law shopping
lawsome
lawspeaker
law suit
lawsuit
law-trained
law unto oneself
law-way
law-ways
lay down the law
Leavitt law
Leibniz's law
Lemaître's law
lemon law
Lenz's law
letter of the law
Lewis's law
limb of the law
Little's law
Littlewood's law
long arm of the law
Lotka's law
Lubarsky's law of cybernetic entomology
Lyman's law
lynch law
Maas's law
Maine law
malice in law
man of law
Marconi's law
Mariotte's law
maritime law
martial law
matter of law
Meckel-Serres law
Meillet's law
Menzerath's law
metalaw
Metcalfe's law
Miles' law
Mitscherlich's law
mob law
Mooers's law
Moore's law
Muphry's law
Murphy's law
natural law
necessity knows no law
neurolaw
Newton's first law
Newton's law of cooling
Newton's law of gravitation
Newton's laws of motion
Newton's second law
Newton's third law
nonlaw
normal law
notary-at-law
Ohm's law
Okun's law
one's word is law
operation of law
oral law
organic law
O'Sullivan's law
outlaw
paenultima law
Panini's law
Pareto's law
Parkinson's law
Pascal's law
Paschen's law
patent law
Peirce's law
penal law
penultima law
periodic law
personal law
physical law
Plateau's law
Poe's law
Poiseuille's law
poor law
positive law
possession is nine points of the law
possession is nine-tenths of the law
Postel's law
Pournelle's law
power law
powerlaw
precedential law
prelaw
Price's law
private international law
private law
procedural law
property law
pseudolaw
public international law
public law
question of law
Raoult's law
Rayleigh-Jeans law
red flag law
red letter law
retroactive law
Ribot's law
Riepl's law
Roman-Dutch law
Roman law
Romeo and Juliet law
rule of law
Salic law
Sanio's law
Sarah's Law
Say's law
Schneier's law
scofflaw
Scots law
Scottish law
sergeant-at-law
serjeant-at-law
sharia law
shield law
Shine the Light Law
Sievers' law
Sievers's law
Sieverts' law
sign into law
sine law
Snell's law
Sod's law
Son of Sam law
sound law
space law
spirit of the law
square-cube law
stand-your-ground law
Stang's law
Stark-Einstein law
state law
statute law
statutory law
Stefan-Boltzmann law
stepmother-in-law
Stigler's law
Stokes' law
Sturgeon's law
sublaw
substantive law
sumptuary law
sunset law
sunshine law
sus law
suss law
Szemerényi's law
take law into one's own hands
take the law into one's hands
take the law into one's own hands
Talbot-Plateau law
Talbot's law
tax law
Tay's Law
Tay's law
the law is a ass
the law is an ass
there oughta be a law
there oughtta be a law
there ought to be a law
thief in law
threefold law
three laws of robotics
three-strikes law
Titius-Bode law
Torricelli's law
tort law
trade law
Tranzschel's law
TRAP law
trigger law
trite law
trust law
ugly law
unlaw
unwritten law
Van der Waals law
van der Waals law
van 't Hoff's law
Verner's law
Vierordt's law
Virchow's law
von Babo's law
water law
Weber-Fechner law
Weise's law
Welsh law
Westlaw
Wiedemann-Franz law
Wien's displacement law
windward of the law
Winter's law
Wirth's law
Wolff's law
Worthington's law
Yerkes-Dodson law
Yog's Law
Zawinski's law
zero-one law
Zipf's law
Related terms: word: law of nature