case

Definitions


[keɪs], (Noun)

Definitions:
- an instance of a particular situation; an example of something occurring
(e.g: a case of mistaken identity)

- an instance of a disease, injury, or problem
(e.g: 200,000 cases of hepatitis B)

- a legal action, especially one to be decided in a court of law
(e.g: a libel case)

- any of the forms of a noun, adjective, or pronoun that express the semantic relation of the word to other words in the sentence
(e.g: the accusative case)


Phrases:
- as the case may be
- be the case
- case by case
- in any case
- in case
- in case of
- in no case
- in that case
- it's a case of —
- off someone's case
- on someone's case
- on the case

Origin:
Old English casus (in case), from Latin casus ‘fall’, related to cadere ‘to fall’; subsequently reinforced by Old French cas; in case directly from Latin, translating Greek ptōsis, literally ‘fall’


[keɪs], (Noun)

Definitions:
- a container designed to hold or protect something
(e.g: a silver cigarette case)

- each of the two forms, capital or minuscule, in which a letter of the alphabet may be written or printed


Phrases:

Origin:
late Middle English: from Old French casse, chasse (modern caisse ‘trunk, chest’, châsse ‘reliquary, frame’), from Latin capsa, related to capere ‘to hold’


[keɪs], (Verb)

Definitions:
- surround in a material or substance
(e.g: the towers are of steel cased in granite)

- reconnoitre (a place) before carrying out a robbery
(e.g: I was casing the joint)


Phrases:

Origin:
late Middle English: from Old French casse, chasse (modern caisse ‘trunk, chest’, châsse ‘reliquary, frame’), from Latin capsa, related to capere ‘to hold’




definition by Oxford Dictionaries