Word: law Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *lagą Old Norse lag Old Norse lǫgbor. Old English lagu Middle English lawe English law 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”). Pronunciation: /lɔː/, /laː/, /loː/, /lɔ/, /lɑ/ 1. The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities. Labels: countable, uncountable, usually, with-definite-article Example: 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. Example: 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. 2. The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities. Labels: countable, uncountable, usually, with-definite-article Example: property law Example: commercial hunting and fishing law 3. The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities. Labels: countable, uncountable, usually, with-definite-article 4. A binding regulation or custom established in a community in this way. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: There is a law against importing wallabies. Example: A new law forbids driving on that road. 5. A rule, such as: Labels: broadly, countable, uncountable Example: "Do unto others as you wish them to do unto you" is a good law to follow. Example: the law of self-preservation 6. A rule, such as: Labels: broadly, countable, uncountable Example: the laws of playwriting and poetry Example: 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." 7. A rule, such as: Labels: broadly, countable, uncountable Example: 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. Example: the laws of thermodynamics 8. A rule, such as: Labels: broadly, countable, uncountable Example: Mathematical laws can be proved purely through mathematics, without scientific experimentation. 9. A rule, such as: Labels: broadly, countable, uncountable Example: the law of scarcity Example: the law of supply and demand 10. A rule, such as: Labels: broadly, countable, uncountable Example: Grimm's law Example: Dahl's law 11. A rule, such as: Labels: broadly, countable, uncountable 12. The control and order brought about by the observance of such rules. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: They worked to maintain law and order. Example: It was a territory without law, marked by violence. 13. A person or group that act(s) with authority to uphold such rules and order (for example, one or more police officers). Labels: countable, informal, uncountable Example: Here comes the law — run! Example: then the law arrived on the scene 14. The profession that deals with such rules (as lawyers, judges, police officers, etc). Labels: countable, uncountable Example: He is studying for a career in law. Example: She has practiced law in New York for twenty years. 15. Jurisprudence, the field of knowledge which encompasses these rules. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: She went to university to study law. 16. Litigation; legal action (as a means of maintaining or restoring order, redressing wrongs, etc.). Labels: countable, uncountable Example: They were quick to go to law. 17. 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. Labels: countable, uncommon, uncountable Example: 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." 18. A mode of operation of the flight controls of a fly-by-wire aircraft. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: normal law; alternate law; direct law 19. One of two metaphysical forces ruling the world in some fantasy settings, also called order, and opposed to chaos. Labels: countable, uncountable 20. 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".) Labels: countable, historical, uncountable Example: As to the depriving the defendant of waging his law, it was thought, the practice merited discouragement, as a temptation to perjury. Example: 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.