law

See also Appendix:ISO 639-3 language codes

English

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Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English lawe, laȝe, from Old English lagu (“law”), from Old Norse *lagu, an early plural form of lag, lǫg (“layer, stratum, a laying in order, measure, stroke, law”, literally “something laid down or fixed”), from Proto-Germanic *lagą (“that which is laid down”), from Proto-Indo-European *legh- (“to lie”). Cognate with Icelandic lög (“things laid down, law”), Swedish lag (“law”), Danish lov (“law”). Replaced Old English ǣ and gesetnes. More at lay.

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Noun

law (countable and uncountable; plural laws)

  1. (uncountable) The body of rules and standards issued by a government, or to be applied by courts and similar authorities.
    By law, one is not allowed to own a wallaby in New York City.
  2. A particular such rule.
    A new law forbids driving on that road.
  3. (more generally) A written or understood rule that concerns behaviours and the appropriate consequences thereof. Laws are usually associated with mores.
    "Do unto others as you wish them to do unto you" is a good law to follow.
  4. (sciences, strictly) A well-established, observed physical characteristic or behavior of nature. The word is used to simply identify "what happens," without implying any explanatory mechanism or causation. Compare to theory.
    Newton's third law of motion states that to every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction. This is one of several laws derived from his general theory expounded in the Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
  5. (mathematics) A statement that is true under specified conditions.
  6. A category of English "common law" petitions that request monetary relief, as opposed to relief in forms other than a monetary judgment; compare to "equity".
  7. (cricket) One of the official rules of cricket as codified by the MCC.
  8. (slang, uncountable) The police.
    Here comes the law — run!
  9. (fantasy) One of the two metaphysical forces of the world in some fantasy settings, as opposed to chaos.
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Derived terms
Translations
written or understood rule
body of rules from the legislative authority
body of rules and standards to be applied by courts
observed physical behavior
statement that is true under specified conditions
category of English "common law"
in cricket
slang: the police
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

Etymology 2

From Old English hlāw (“burial mound”). Also spelled low.

Noun

law (plural laws)

  1. (obsolete) a tumulus of stones
  2. (Scottish and northern dialectal, archaic) a hill
    • 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, Across the Plains
      You might climb the Law [...] and behold the face of many counties.

Etymology 3

Compare la.

Interjection

law

  1. (dated) An exclamation of mild surprise; lawks.

References

Etymology in ODS

Statistics

Anagrams

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Lower Sorbian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *lьvъ, from Proto-Indo-European *lewo-.

Pronunciation

Noun

law m (diminutive lawk; feminine equivalent lawowka)

  1. lion

Declension

declension of law
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative law lawa lawy
Genitive lawa lawowu lawow
Dative lawoju lawoma lawam
Accusative lawa lawowu lawy, lawow
Instrumental lawom lawoma lawami
Locative lawje lawoma lawach

Derived terms

  • lawica
  • lawik
  • lawowy
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Scots

Noun

law (plural laws)

  1. law
  2. rounded hill (usually conical, frequently isolated or conspicuous)
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Sranan Tongo

Verb

law

  1. To be crazy
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Upper Sorbian

Pronunciation

Noun

law m

  1. lion (Panthera leo)

Declension

Singular Dual Plural
Nominative law lawaj lawy
Genitive lawa lawow lawow
Dative lawej lawomaj lawam
Accusative lawa lawje lawow
Instrumental lawom lawomaj lawami
Locative lawje lawomaj lawach

Derived terms

  • lawica, lawjace/-a/-y, lawowe/-a/-y
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Last modified on 19 May 2013, at 21:17