Webster's English Dictionary

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case

Cross references:
  1. instance              
 
1. case \'ka-s\ n [ME cas, fr. OF, fr. L casus fall, chance, fr. casus, pp. 
   of] [ME cas, fr. L casus, trans. of Gk pto-sis, lit., fall]cadere to fall - 
   more at CHANCE 1a: a set of circumstances or conditions  1b1: a situation 
   requiring investigation or action by the police or other a gency 1b2: the 
   object of investigation or consideration  2: CONDITION; specif : condition 
   of body or mind  3a: an inflectional form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective 
   indicating its gr ammatical relation to other words 3b: such a relation 
   whether indicated by inflection or not  4: what actually exists or happens 
   : FACT  5a: a suit or action in law or equity  5b1: the evidence supporting 
   a conclusion or judgment  5b2: ARGUMENT; esp : a convincing argument  6a: 
   an instance or disease or injury; also : PATIENT  6b: INSTANCE, EXAMPLE  
   6c: a peculiar person : CHARACTER  1: IF  2: as a precaution  3: as a 
   precaution against the event that  - in case 
2. case n [ME cas, fr. ONF casse, fr. L capsa chest, case, fr. caper]e to 
   take - more at HEAVE 1a: a box or receptacle to contain something  1b: a 
   box together with its contents  1c: SET; specif : PAIR  2: an outer 
   covering or housing  3: a shallow divided tray for holding printing type  
   4: the frame of a door or window : CASING 
3. case vt 1: to enclose in or cover with a case : ENCASE  2: to line (as a 
   well) with supporting material  slang  3: to inspect or study esp. with 
   intent to rob