chancery

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chancery

  • /ˈt͡ʃɑːnsəɹɪ/ UK
  • /ˈt͡ʃænsəɹɪ/ UK
  • /ˈt͡ʃɑːnsəɹi/ UK
  • /ˈt͡ʃansəɹi/ UK

Where it comes from

From Middle English chancerie, a reduced form of chancellerie. See chancellery.

noun chanceries

  1. countable, historical, uncountable In England, formerly, the highest court of judicature next to the Parliament, exercising jurisdiction at law, but chiefly in equity; but under the jurisdiction act of 1873 it became the chancery division of the High Court of Justice, and now exercises jurisdiction only in equity
  2. US, countable, uncountable A court of equity; equity; a proceeding in equity.

    Similar: chancery court

  3. countable, uncountable The type of building that houses a diplomatic mission or embassy. The territorial expansion of the United States thus caused no great political stir in the chanceries of Europe.
  4. countable, uncountable The type of building that houses the offices and administration of a diocese; the offices of a diocese.
  5. countable, historical, uncountable In the Middle Ages, a government office that produced and notarized official documents.
  6. countable, slang, uncountable The position of a boxer's head when under his adversary's arm. The Chicken himself attributed this punishment to his having had the misfortune to get into Chancery early in the proceedings, when he was severely fibbed by the Larkey one, and heavily grassed.
  7. archaic, countable, slang, uncountable Any awkward predicament.
  8. abbreviation, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Ellipsis of chancery hand

adverb

  1. not comparable With the head of an antagonist under one's arm, so that one can pommel it with the other fist at will. [Round] 9. This was a scientific round on both sides; Acton got away well; and also parried some tremendous blows. The latter, however, received a chancery nobber; but he contended every inch of ground till he went down.
  2. figuratively, not comparable In an awkward situation; wholly under the power of someone else.

Similar: in chancery

Thesaurus

adverb

Similar: in chancery

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MLA

"chancery." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/chancery. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

chancery. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/chancery

Chicago

"chancery." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/chancery.

BibTeX
@misc{chancery_2026,
  title = {chancery},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/chancery},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}