case

Less common meanings

9. 9
   glass boxnouncountable

   A piece of furniture, partly made of clear glass or plastic, used to display items inside.

   The jeweler locked the necklace back in the display case.

   Lit cases protected the fragile manuscripts from dust and handling.

   UsageUsually display case or glass case.

   Similarcabinet, showcase

10. 10
    capital lettersnouncountable or uncountable

    The form of an alphabetic letter, whether capital (upper case) or small (lower case).

    The style guide specifies the case of every heading.

    Programming languages that ignore case treat 'A' and 'a' as the same letter.

    UsageMostly in upper case and lower case; software can match or ignore case.

    Similarcapitalization

    Note

    Here the printer's tray has become a property of the letter itself. A letter's case is whether it is a capital or a small letter, named for the printer's type tray where each kind was stored. The word now applies to text in any alphabet with capital and small forms, so a style guide can fix the case of a heading and software can match or ignore case. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The terminology comes from printers' trays used to store movable type. en.wikipedia.org
    • Case distinctions occur only in certain alphabets; the statement needs that restriction. unicode.org
11. 11
    travel bagnouncountable

    A suitcase used for carrying clothes and belongings while traveling.

    He hauled his case up the station steps.

    Travelers wheeled their cases across the busy terminal.

    Similarsuitcase, bag

12. 12
    word endingnouncountable

    In grammar, the form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective that shows its role in a sentence, or the system of such forms in a language.

    Latin marks the subject of a sentence with the nominative case.

    Many languages use the genitive case to show possession.

    UsageNamed with an adjective first: the nominative case, the genitive case.

    Note

    Grammarians treat a case as something a word receives from its position: the subject of an indicative or subjunctive clause "is always assigned Nominative case," as Andrew Radford puts it in 1988. In English the difference surfaces in pronouns, where they, not them or their, fills that subject slot. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Andrew Radford wrote the exact quoted words. en.wiktionary.org
    • The quotation's source, Andrew Radford's Transformational Grammar: A First Course, was first published in 1988. api.pageplace.de
13. 13
    spy outverbcolloquialtransitive

    To survey a building or location secretly, typically in preparation for a robbery.

    The gang cased the warehouse for weeks, noting guard shifts and exits.

    Detectives believe the suspects came to case the building days before the heist.

    UsageOften in the phrase case the joint.

    Similarscout, survey, reconnoiter

    Note

    In Michael Innes's The Gay Phoenix (1976), a character is told "your job is to case the joint for a break in." It also takes a named target, as when one of the FBI burglars helped case an FBI office by posing as a student. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Michael Innes wrote The Gay Phoenix. en.wiktionary.org
    • The quoted words occur as dialogue in The Gay Phoenix. en.wiktionary.org
    • One of the FBI burglars surveyed an FBI office while posing as a student. en.wikipedia.org
14. 14
    verbtransitive

    To put something into a case or box, or to enclose it in a protective covering.

    The watchmaker cased the movement in solid gold.

    The new sensors are cased in tough plastic so they survive being dropped on a job site.

    Similarbox, enclose, house, pack

15. 15
    nounUScountable

    In the beverage industry, a unit of liquid volume equal to 192 fluid ounces, used for counting sales.

    Beverage suppliers report volume by the case, with one case set at 192 fluid ounces.

    The cola maker's U.S. volume grew to two billion standard cases, counting fountain syrup as well as bottles and cans.

    Note

    An accounting unit rather than a box. In US beverage sales, fixing a case at 192 fluid ounces lets volumes be compared whatever the containers. A sales case therefore need not match any carton on a shelf, including the box of identical items. Treat it as American trade jargon and explain it when writing for a general audience. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • US beverage companies use a case measure equal to 192 US fluid ounces. investors.monsterbevcorp.com
    • Cases are used to account for sales volume; independence from container sizes and physical cartons follows from the fixed-volume definition. investors.coca-colacompany.com
16. 16
    programmingnouncountable

    In a switch statement, a block of code that defines one of the possible actions.

    The default case runs when no other value matches.

    Add a new case for each menu option the user can pick.

    Similarbranch, clause

    Note

    In a C-style switch statement each case is a labeled branch, and the trap is that control does not stop when a branch ends. "Execution does not automatically stop at the next case," Stephen Prata warns in C++ Primer Plus. Programmers therefore usually end each one with a break statement to prevent case fall-through, the term for running on into the next branch. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

    • A case identifies a labeled branch in a C++ switch statement. learn.microsoft.com
    • This describes C++ fall-through, not switch statements in every language. Swift, for example, finishes the switch when a matching case completes. raw.githubusercontent.com
    • Stephen Prata wrote C++ Primer Plus. informit.com
    • The quotation attributed to Prata has the stated wording. en.wiktionary.org
    • Programmers commonly use break to prevent unwanted fall-through, but cases can deliberately fall through or exit another way. learn.microsoft.com
    • Fall-through means execution continuing into the next case. raw.githubusercontent.com
17. 17
    nounarchaic

    A love affair or romantic involvement between two people.

    I thought it only an amourette when you told me. It was a fire — a conflagration; subdue it. I saw it was a case, and I advised you to try — dissipation.

    1876, The New York Drama, volumes 1-2

    Poor fellow, just as I thought! It's a case with him, anybody can see that. He is thinking about Christine, for a certainty. Lovers always take to stargazing and moonlight dreaming — it's part of their complaint.

    1867, The Young Ladies' Journal

    Note

    Nineteenth-century talk for being smitten. "It's a case with him," says a speaker in The Young Ladies' Journal of 1867, reading the signs in a lovesick man's stargazing as "part of their complaint." A play collected in The New York Drama (1876) sets a case against a mere amourette: it was "a fire" and even "a conflagration." Today it reads as period dialogue. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Case was used for romantic involvement in nineteenth-century dialogue. en.wiktionary.org
    • The speaker says the quoted words and associates lovesickness with stargazing. en.wiktionary.org
    • The passage contrasts an amourette with a more consuming romantic attachment, using the quoted fire metaphor. en.wiktionary.org
18. 18
    hardened surfacenouncountable

    A thin layer of harder metal on an object's surface, the deeper metal left comparatively soft.

    Carburizing forms a hard case on the steel while leaving the interior tough and ductile.

    The file stopped cutting well once its hardened case had worn away.

    Similarskin, shell, layer

    Oppositecore

19. 19
    printing traynounhistoricalcountable

    A shallow tray divided into compartments for holding metal type, traditionally paired as an upper tray for capitals and a lower one for small letters.

    The compositor picked type from the case, drawing capitals from the upper section.

    An old printing case sat in the museum, its compartments still labeled.

    Note

    A compositor's word from the age of hand-set metal type, and the root of two phrases still in daily use. The trays came in pairs: the upper case held capitals, small capitals and accented letters, while the lower case held small letters, figures, punctuation, and the quadrats and spaces that fill out a line. From that pair comes the capital-or-small distinction for letters themselves. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 8 facts

    • Case was a compositor's term for a compartmented tray used in setting metal type by hand. gutenberg.org
    • Type cases were traditionally used in pairs. gutenberg.org
    • The upper case held capitals, small capitals and accented letters. gutenberg.org
    • The lower case held small letters, figures, punctuation and spaces. gutenberg.org
    • Quadrats were also kept in the lower case. gutenberg.org
    • Quadrats were used to fill out lines. gutenberg.org
    • Spaces were used to adjust lines to their required width. gutenberg.org
    • The terms uppercase and lowercase for letters derive from the positions of the paired type cases. en.wikipedia.org
20. 20
    nounslangcountable

    In poker, a hand of four cards of the same rank; four of a kind.

    Note

    Card-table slang for holding every card of one rank: a case of aces is all four aces. Use it among poker players; in general writing, four of a kind is clearer. The same table uses the last-card adjective for the single card of a rank still unseen, so context decides which is meant. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • In poker slang, a case means four of a kind. en.wiktionary.org
    • A case of aces consists of all four aces. en.wiktionary.org
    • Poker also uses case adjectivally for the last remaining card of a rank. en.wiktionary.org
21. 21
    adjectiveslang

    Denoting the last remaining card of a particular rank still in play.

    The case nine was his only out, and he caught it on the river.

    Everyone at the table knew the case queen was still live in the deck.

    Note

    An adjective that stands directly before the rank: the case eight, the case ace. Poker players reach for it when counting outs, as David Apostolico does in 2006, listing "the case ace, two nines, and three tens." Because it means the only one left, it has no comparative; no card can be more case than another. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • The adjective precedes the card rank, as in “case eight” and “case ace.” en.wiktionary.org
    • David Apostolico's poker book was published in 2006. kensingtonbooks.com
    • Apostolico uses the quoted list while counting outs. en.wiktionary.org
    • This sense means the last remaining card of a rank and is not comparable. en.wiktionary.org
22. 22
    nouncountable

    A small fissure that admits water into the workings of a mine.

    Similarfissure, crack

23. 23
    nounobsoleteUK

    A counterfeit crown: a fraudulent five-shilling coin passed off as genuine.

    The price of a case (five shillings piece bad) from the smasher is about one shilling; an alderman (two and sixpence) about sixpence; a peg (shilling) about threepence; a downer or sprat (sixpence) about twopence.

    1859, Snowden's magistrates assistant

    Note

    Criminal slang from nineteenth-century Britain for a bad five-shilling piece. The 1859 edition of Snowden's Magistrates Assistant prices it like stock: a case cost about a shilling "from the smasher." The same price list names an alderman (two and sixpence), a peg (a shilling) and a downer or sprat (sixpence). The word belongs only in historical writing. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • “Case” was nineteenth-century British criminal slang for a counterfeit five-shilling coin. gutenberg.org
    • 1859 is a later-edition date, not the work's first-publication year: an earlier source cites its third edition as 1857. Specify the 1859 edition; the first-edition title-page date was not verified. gutenberg.org
    • The cited passage prices a counterfeit five-shilling piece at about one shilling and contains “from the smasher.” en.wiktionary.org
    • The same passage identifies an alderman as two shillings and sixpence, a peg as a shilling, and a downer or sprat as sixpence. en.wiktionary.org
24. 24
    verbobsoleteintransitive

    To set forth hypothetical situations, especially for the sake of discussion or argument.

    Casing upon the Matter.

    1692, Roger L’Estrange, Fables

    Note

    A verb made from the reasoner's hypothetical case, long out of use. Roger L'Estrange's "Casing upon the Matter" (1692) shows its construction: it takes no object, and upon introduces the subject being turned over. It belongs to the reading of older argument, not to modern prose. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • The obsolete verb concerns proposing hypothetical cases and belongs to the corresponding noun sense. en.wiktionary.org
    • Roger L'Estrange used the words “Casing upon the Matter” in his narration. archive.org
    • The quotation occurs in the 1692 first edition of L'Estrange's Fables. archive.org
    • In this example, casing has no direct object; upon introduces the matter discussed. archive.org