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case

See also: CASE, Case, casé, cáse, cåse, and cåsĕ

Contents

EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /keɪs/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪs
  • Hyphenation: case

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English cas, from Old French cas (“an event”), from Latin casus (“a falling, a fall; accident, event, occurrence; occasion, opportunity; noun case”), perfect passive participle of cado (“to fall, to drop”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂d- (“to fall”).

NounEdit

case (plural cases)

  1. An actual event, situation, or fact.
    For a change, in this case, he was telling the truth.
    It is not the case that every unfamiliar phrase is an idiom.
    In case of fire, break glass. [sign on fire extinguisher holder in public space]
    • 2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
      Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.
  2. (now rare) A given condition or state.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.10:
      Ne wist he how to turne, nor to what place: / Was never wretched man in such a wofull cace.
    • 1726, Nathan Bailey, ‎John Worlidge, Dictionarium Rusticum, Urbanicum & Botanicum
      Mares which are over-fat, hold with much difficulty; whereas those that are but in good case and plump, conceive with the greatest readiness and ease.
  3. A piece of work, specifically defined within a profession.
    It was one of the detective's easiest cases.  Social workers should work on a maximum of forty active cases.  The doctor told us of an interesting case he had treated that morning.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 2, in The Celebrity:
      We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.
    • 1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 4, in Pulling the Strings:
      The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff. These properties were known to have belonged to a toddy drawer. He had disappeared.
  4. (academia) An instance or event as a topic of study.
    The teaching consists of theory lessons and case studies.
  6. (law) A legal proceeding, lawsuit.
    • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Tremarn Case‎[1]:
      “Two or three months more went by ; the public were eagerly awaiting the arrival of this semi-exotic claimant to an English peerage, and sensations, surpassing those of the Tichbourne case, were looked forward to with palpitating interest. […]”
  7. (grammar) A specific inflection of a word depending on its function in the sentence.
    The accusative case canonically indicates a direct object.  Latin has six cases, and remnants of a seventh.
    • 1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 6, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 292:
      Now, the Subject of either an indicative or a subjunctive Clause is always assigned Nominative case, as we see from:
      (16) (a)   I know [that they/*them/*their leave for Hawaii tomorrow]
      (16) (b)   I demand [that they/*them/*their leave for Hawaii tomorrow]
      By contrast, the Subject of an infinitive Clause is assigned Objective case, as we see from:
      (17)   I want [them/*they/*their to leave for Hawaii tomorrow]
      And the Subject of a gerund Clause is assigned either Objective or Genitive case: cf.
      (18)   I don't like the idea of [them/their/*they leaving for Hawaii tomorrow]
  8. (grammar, uncountable) Grammatical cases and their meanings taken either as a topic in general or within a specific language.
    Jane has been studying case in Caucasian languages.  Latin is a language that employs case.
  9. (medicine) An instance of a specific condition or set of symptoms.
    There were another five cases reported overnight.
  10. (programming) A section of code representing one of the actions of a conditional switch.
    • 2004, Rick Miller, C++ for Artists
      Place a break statement at the end of every case to prevent case fall-through.
    • 2011, Stephen Prata, C++ Primer Plus (page 275)
      Execution does not automatically stop at the next case.
SynonymsEdit
Synonyms of case
HyponymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Derived terms
TranslationsEdit
grammatical case — see grammatical case
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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

VerbEdit

case (third-person singular simple present cases, present participle casing, simple past and past participle cased)

  1. (obsolete) To propose hypothetical cases.
    • L'Estrange
      Casing upon the matter.

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

Etymology 2Edit

From Middle English cas, from Old Northern French casse, (compare Old French chasse (“box, chest, case”)), from Latin capsa (“box, bookcase”), from capiō (“to take, seize, hold”).

NounEdit

case (plural cases)

  2. A box that contains or can contain a number of identical items of manufacture.
  3. A box, sheath, or covering generally.
    a case for spectacles; the case of a watch
  4. A piece of luggage that can be used to transport an apparatus such as a sewing machine.
  5. An enclosing frame or casing.
    a door case; a window case
  6. A suitcase.
  7. A piece of furniture, constructed partially of transparent glass or plastic, within which items can be displayed.
  8. The outer covering or framework of a piece of apparatus such as a computer.
  9. (printing, historical) A shallow tray divided into compartments or "boxes" for holding type, traditionally arranged in sets of two, the "upper case" (containing capitals, small capitals, accented) and "lower case" (small letters, figures, punctuation marks, quadrats, and spaces).
  10. (typography, by extension) The nature of a piece of alphabetic type, whether a “capital” (upper case) or “small” (lower case) letter.
  11. (poker slang) Four of a kind.
  12. (US) A unit of liquid measure used to measure sales in the beverage industry, equivalent to 192 fluid ounces.
  13. (mining) A small fissure which admits water into the workings.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)
  14. A thin layer of harder metal on the surface of an object whose deeper metal is allowed to remain soft.
HyponymsEdit
Terms derived from case (noun, etymology 2)
TranslationsEdit
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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
ReferencesEdit

AdjectiveEdit

case (not comparable)

  1. (poker slang) The last remaining card of a particular rank.
    He drew the case eight!
ReferencesEdit

VerbEdit

case (third-person singular simple present cases, present participle casing, simple past and past participle cased)

  1. (transitive) To place (an item or items of manufacture) into a box, as in preparation for shipment.
  2. (transitive) To cover or protect with, or as if with, a case; to enclose.
    • Prescott
      The man who, cased in steel, had passed whole days and nights in the saddle.
  3. (transitive, informal) To survey (a building or other location) surreptitiously, as in preparation for a robbery.
    • 1977, Michael Innes, The Gay Phoenix, →ISBN, page 116:
      You are in the grounds of Brockholes Abbey, a house into which a great deal of valuable property has just been moved. And your job is to case the joint for a break in.
    • 2014, Amy Goodman, From COINTELPRO to Snowden, the FBI Burglars Speak Out After 43 Years of Silence (Part 2), Democracy Now!, January 8, 2014, 0:49 to 0:57:
      Bonnie worked as a daycare director. She helped case the FBI office by posing as a college student interested in becoming an FBI agent.
TranslationsEdit

AnagramsEdit

AsturianEdit

ChineseEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from English case.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

case

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) case

FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from Latin casa, in the sense of "hut, cabin". The other senses are a semantic loan from Spanish casa. Doublet of chez, which was inherited.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

case f (plural cases)

  1. (archaic, rare or regional) hut, cabin, shack
  2. box (on form)
  3. square (on board game)

Derived termsEdit

Further readingEdit

AnagramsEdit

GalicianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Latin quasi (“as if”).

AdverbEdit

case

  1. almost

ItalianEdit

NounEdit

case f

  1. plural of casa

AnagramsEdit

LatinEdit

ParticipleEdit

cāse

  1. vocative masculine singular of cāsus

Lower SorbianEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /ˈt͡sasɛ/, [ˈt͡sasə]

NounEdit

case

  1. nominative and accusative plural of cas

Middle DutchEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old Dutch *kāsi, from late Proto-Germanic *kāsijaz, borrowed from Latin cāseus.

NounEdit

câse m, n

  1. cheese

InflectionEdit

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Alternative formsEdit

DescendantsEdit

Further readingEdit

  • “case”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
  • “case (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, 1929

Old FrenchEdit

NounEdit

case m (oblique plural cases, nominative singular cases, nominative plural case)

  1. (grammar) case

PortugueseEdit

PronunciationEdit

VerbEdit

case

  1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of casar
  2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of casar
  3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of casar
  4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of casar

RomanianEdit

NounEdit

case

  1. plural of casă

SpanishEdit

VerbEdit

case

  1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of casar.
  2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of casar.
  3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of casar.
  4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of casar.

VenetianEdit

NounEdit

case

  1. plural of casa
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