Definition of "law" in Englisch

noun

1. (usually with "the") The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities.

   • The courts interpret the law but should not make it.
   • In theory, entrapment is against the law.

2. A binding regulation or custom established in a community in this way.

   • There is a law against importing wallabies.
   • A new law forbids driving on that road.
   • The court ruled that the executive order was not law and nullified it.

3. (more generally) A rule, such as:

4. The control and order brought about by the observance of such rules.

   • They worked to maintain law and order.
   • It was a territory without law, marked by violence.

5. (informal) A person or group that act(s) with authority to uphold such rules and order (for example, one or more police officers).

   • Here comes the law — run!
   • then the law arrived on the scene

6. The profession that deals with such rules (as lawyers, judges, police officers, etc).

   • He is studying for a career in law.
   • She has practiced law in New York for twenty years.

7. Jurisprudence, the field of knowledge which encompasses these rules.

   • She went to university to study law.

8. Litigation; legal action (as a means of maintaining or restoring order, redressing wrongs, etc).

   • They were quick to go to law.

9. (now uncommon) 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.

10. (aviation) A mode of operation of the flight controls of a fly-by-wire aircraft.

    • normal law; alternate law; direct law

11. (fantasy) One of two metaphysical forces ruling the world in some fantasy settings, also called order, and opposed to chaos.

12. (law, chiefly historical) 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".)

verb

1. (obsolete) To work as a lawyer; to practice law.

2. (ambitransitive, chiefly dialectal) To prosecute or sue (someone), to litigate.

   • Your husband's … so given to lawing, they say. I doubt he'll leave you poorly off when he dies.