lawyer
Plurallawyers
Verblawyers, lawyering, lawyered
Plurallawyers
Formslawyers, lawyering, lawyered
- 1A person trained in law whose job is to give legal advice and speak for people in court.
Like a guide who knows all the rules and speaks for you when there is trouble.
She hired a lawyer to help with her divorce.
The lawyer explained the contract before we signed it.
UsageYou hire or get a lawyer when you need help with the law.
Note
- 2To work as a lawyer, or to do the kind of work a lawyer does.
Like a doctor who works with patients, but the work is with laws instead.
They lawyer in three different states.
She lawyered for a small firm before opening her own practice.
UsagePeople say lawyer for a firm; in careful writing, say practice law.
- 3To ask someone question after question to try to make them admit something.
UsageOften said as a joke: you've been lawyered! when someone is tricked into admitting something.
Similargrill, interrogate, badger
Less common meanings
- 4To argue in an overly technical, rule-focused way.
Like someone who argues about the exact rules of a game to avoid losing.
Don't lawyer about every little detail.
When he is losing a board game, he starts to lawyer over the rules.
UsageUsed to criticize someone for arguing too much about rules or technical details.
- 5A person who argues about the law without being a qualified lawyer.
Like someone who reads about car repair and then tells real mechanics what to do.
My uncle is an armchair lawyer who argues about every new law on the news.
Online, everyone becomes a lawyer when a big court case is in the news.
UsageOften in phrases like armchair lawyer, for someone who argues about law without training.
Note
- 6Any of several kinds of plant with thorns that bend like hooks.
- 7A climbing palm covered in hooked thorns, found in rainforests.
- 8A prickly climbing plant from New Zealand that is related to the raspberry.
- 9A woody rainforest vine that climbs by gripping other plants with the curled tips of its leaves.
The stems of the "lawyer vine" (Flagellaria indica), buz or buzi (W.), boz (E.), are used in house-building, tying fences, etc.
2011, A. C. Haddon, W. H. R. Rivers - 10A freshwater fish, the burbot, that has a long body and a single chin whisker.
- 11The thorny stem of a blackberry or other bramble plant.
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Origin
From Middle English lawiere, made from "law" plus the ending "-yer".
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Lawyer derives from Middle English lawiere. en.wiktionary.org
- The word was formed from law plus the ending -yer. en.wiktionary.org