# law

Pronunciation: say "LAW" US /lɔ/, UK /lɔː/, AUS /loː/

## Noun

1. The body of binding rules, customs, and standards that a community establishes through its legislative and judicial authorities.
   - Simple: The whole set of rules a country makes and enforces, that everyone must follow.
   - _The law requires drivers to carry insurance._
   - _Many citizens believe the law should treat everyone equally._
2. A single binding regulation or custom established by a community's legislative and judicial authorities.
   - Simple: A single rule made by a government that people must obey.
   - _Legislators introduced a law banning single-use plastics._
   - _The new law took effect at the start of the year._
3. The body of rules that pertains to a particular subject or area.
   - Simple: All the rules that deal with one certain subject.
   - _Employment law governs the relationship between workers and their employers._
   - _Changes to immigration law affected thousands of families._
4. Legal rules and principles as a subject of study or as a profession, practiced by lawyers and judges.
   - Simple: The subject or job of understanding and using legal rules, as studied at university or done by lawyers.
   - _His lectures on law examined how legal principles change over centuries._
   - _She approaches law as an academic subject rather than a job._
5. The police or others acting with authority to enforce rules and maintain order. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: The police, or other people whose job is to make everyone follow the rules.
   - _The outlaws scattered when the law arrived in town._
   - _Around here, you don't argue with the law._
6. A general statement of something that always happens or holds true under given conditions, as in science, mathematics, logic or economics: the laws of thermodynamics; the law of supply and demand.
   - Simple: A rule that describes what always happens in nature, maths or other areas, like the law of gravity.
   - _The laws of thermodynamics govern how energy moves through a system._
   - _Every falling object obeys the same physical law._
7. The order and control that result when a community observes its rules.
   - Simple: The peace and order that comes when people follow the rules.
   - _When the government collapsed, law gave way to looting and gang violence in the capital._
   - _The new marshal was hired to bring law to a town run by gunmen._
9. A rule that must or should be followed in some activity, art or way of behaving: the laws of good manners; the laws of harmony.
   - Simple: A rule people should follow in doing something, such as good manners, writing or music.
   - _By the laws of common courtesy, you thank your host before leaving._
   - _There is an unwritten law that newcomers buy the first round._
8. The commandments given by God to Moses, or the five opening books of the Bible where they are written down; the Torah.
   - Simple: The rules God gave through Moses, or the first five books of the Bible that contain them, also called the Torah.
   - _The Law forbids work on the Sabbath, so the family prepares its meals the day before._
   - _Early Christians argued fiercely over whether new believers had to keep the Law._
10. The body of judge-made rules developed through court decisions, as distinguished from the separate system of equity.
   - Simple: The older set of court-made rules, separate from the more flexible rules called equity.
   - _Remedies at law are typically monetary, whereas equity allows injunctions._
   - _Historically, courts of law and courts of equity were separate institutions._
11. Legal action or litigation undertaken to maintain order, redress wrongs, or settle disputes.
   - Simple: Going to court to settle a problem or fix a wrong.
   - _Rather than negotiate, the company resorted to law._
   - _He threatened to go to law over the broken contract._
16. A sound law; a regular, systematic change in the pronunciation of a language over time.
   - Simple: A rule that describes how the sounds in a language change over time.
   - _Grimm's law accounts for the regular consonant shifts in Germanic languages._
   - _Grimm's law explains why many Latin words starting with p, like pater, match English words starting with f, like father._
17. Any rule in the official code of cricket, which was drawn up by the MCC, formerly the sport's governing body.
   - Simple: A rule of cricket, set out by the game's official rulebook.
   - _Under a newer law on bat size, cricket bats with extremely thick edges are no longer allowed._
   - _Every cricket umpire must know the laws thoroughly, from no-balls to run-outs._
18. A mode of operation governing how the flight controls of a fly-by-wire aircraft respond to pilot input.
   - Simple: A setting that decides how an aircraft's computers respond when the pilot moves the controls.
   - _When the fault cleared, the jet returned to its normal control law._
   - _Each law applies a different set of envelope protections._
19. In certain fantasy settings, one of two ruling metaphysical forces, also called order, set in opposition to chaos.
   - Simple: In some fantasy stories, a power of order that fights against chaos.
   - _In the game's lore, the champions of law wage an endless war against the lords of chaos._
   - _Champions of law and champions of chaos clashed at the edge of the world._
23. An oath sworn before a court, especially one disclaiming a debt, used chiefly in phrases like "wager of law" and "wage one's law".
   - Simple: Long ago, an oath sworn in court, often to deny owing a debt.
   - _He offered to wage his law and bring eleven neighbors to swear with him._
   - _Accused of an unpaid debt, the farmer chose to wage his law, swearing he owed nothing while neighbors vouched for his oath._

## Verb

12. To enforce the law and bring offenders to account. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To make sure people obey the rules and laws.
   - _Marshals were hired to law the cattle towns during the boom years._
   - _Old Sam lawed that mining camp for twenty years and never once fired his gun in anger._
15. To prosecute or sue someone; to take legal action against them. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: To sue someone or take them to court.
   - _She warned the landlord she would law him if the repairs weren't done._
   - _The two families lawed each other for years over the boundary._
21. To rule over a people or place by law; to govern. *(nonstandard)*
   - Simple: To govern a place or people by means of laws.

## Verb

13. To earn one's living as a lawyer; to practice the legal profession. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To work as a lawyer.
14. To place under legal restrictions; to bring within the limits set by law. *(rare)*
   - Simple: To place legal limits or rules on something.

## Noun

20. A head start in distance or time given to a weaker competitor in a race, to make the contest more even. *(rare)*
   - Simple: A head start in distance or time given to a weaker racer to make things fair.
24. A hill, especially a rounded or conical one rising on its own above the surrounding land. *(archaic, Northern England, Scotland)*
   - Simple: A rounded hill, especially one standing on its own.
   - _Sheep grazed the slopes of the law all through the summer months._
   - _From the law you could see the whole coastline stretching north._
25. A mound or heap of stones raised as a tumulus, often over a grave. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A burial mound made of piled stones.
26. A reckoning or score; a person's share of an expense, or a charge owed. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A bill or share of costs that someone has to pay.

## Interjection

22. An exclamation of mild surprise; a softened stand-in for the word "Lord". *(dated)*
   - Simple: An exclamation of mild surprise, like saying 'oh my!'
   - _Law, but it's cold enough to freeze the pump tonight!_
   - _"Law me," she said, "if it isn't your cousin come home at last."_

## Origin

**Meanings 1–21, 23** — Old English took lagu ("law") from Old Norse lǫg ("law"), whose literal sense was "things laid down or firmly established", and it became Middle English lawe. The Norse word goes back to Proto-Germanic *lagą, meaning "that which is laid down", and a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to lie". Though it looks similar, it is not usually thought to share an origin with legal or French loi, both of which come from Latin lēx.
**Meanings 24–25** — Old English hlāw ("burial mound") became Middle English lawe. Another spelling of the word is low.
**Meaning 26** — Old Norse lag could mean "position", "price", "way", "blow" or "sting", as well as "that which is lying or laid", and it came into Middle English as lagh. It goes back to Proto-Germanic *lagą, meaning "that which is laid".
**Meaning 22** — An altered pronunciation of Lord, used in exclamations to avoid saying the word outright; compare la, lawks and Lawd.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/law (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).