law

noun laws

1. countable, uncountable, usually, with definite article The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities. Not unnaturally, "Auntie" took this communication in bad part.[…]Next day she[…]tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head. Then, thwarted, the wretched creature went to the police for help; she was versed in the law, and perhaps had spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local consta
2. countable, uncountable, usually, with definite article The body of such rules that pertain to a particular topic. property law
3. countable, uncountable, usually, with definite article Common law, as contrasted with equity.
4. countable, uncountable A binding regulation or custom established in a community in this way. There is a law against importing wallabies.
5. broadly, countable, uncountable Any rule that must or should be obeyed, concerning behaviours and their consequences. (Compare mores.) "Do unto others as you wish them to do unto you" is a good law to follow.
6. broadly, countable, uncountable A rule or principle regarding the construction of language or art. the laws of playwriting and poetry
7. broadly, countable, uncountable A statement (in physics, etc) of an (observed, established) order or sequence or relationship of phenomena which is invariable under certain conditions. (Compare theory.) Observing pi is easier than studying physical phenomena, because you can prove things in mathematics, whereas you can't prove anything in physics. And, unfortunately, the laws of physics change once every generation.

   Similar: law of nature, law

8. broadly, countable, uncountable A statement (of relation) that is true under specified conditions; a mathematical or logical rule. Mathematical laws can be proved purely through mathematics, without scientific experimentation.
9. broadly, countable, uncountable Any statement of the relation of acts and conditions to their consequences. the law of scarcity
10. broadly, countable, uncountable A sound law; a regular change in the pronunciation of a language. Grimm's law
11. broadly, countable, uncountable One of the official rules of cricket as codified by the its (former) governing body, the MCC.
12. countable, uncountable The control and order brought about by the observance of such rules. They worked to maintain law and order.
13. countable, informal, uncountable A person or group that act(s) with authority to uphold such rules and order (for example, one or more police officers). Here comes the law — run!
14. countable, uncountable The profession that deals with such rules (as lawyers, judges, police officers, etc). He is studying for a career in law.
15. countable, uncountable Jurisprudence, the field of knowledge which encompasses these rules. She went to university to study law.
16. countable, uncountable Litigation; legal action (as a means of maintaining or restoring order, redressing wrongs, etc.). They were quick to go to law.
17. countable, uncommon, uncountable An allowance of distance or time (a head start) given to a weaker (human or animal) competitor in a race, to make the race more fair. After a few minutes' waiting, two well-known runners, chosen for the hares, buckled on the four bags filled with scent, compared their watches with those of young Brooke and Thome, and started off at a long, slinging trot across the fields in the direction of Barby. Then the hounds clustered round T
18. countable, uncountable A mode of operation of the flight controls of a fly-by-wire aircraft. normal law; alternate law; direct law
19. countable, uncountable One of two metaphysical forces ruling the world in some fantasy settings, also called order, and opposed to chaos.
20. countable, historical, uncountable An oath sworn before a court, especially disclaiming a debt. (Chiefly in the phrases "wager of law", "wage one's law", "perform one's law”, "lose one's law".) As to the depriving the defendant of waging his law, it was thought, the practice merited discouragement, as a temptation to perjury.

Similar: act, canon, code, convention, constitution, corpus, decree, dictate, directive, doctrine, edict, enactment, guideline, legislation, mandate, maxim, order, ordinance, pandect, prescription, prohibition, regulation, rule, standard, statute, tenet

verb laws · lawing · lawed

1. obsolete To work as a lawyer; to practice law. That was in 1877 you were lawing with Herdick?
2. ambitransitive, dialectal To prosecute or sue (someone), to litigate. Your husband's … so given to lawing, they say. I doubt he'll leave you poorly off when he dies.
3. nonstandard To rule over (with a certain effect) by law; to govern. At its 1933 session, the Kansas legislature provided for funding outstanding bills and floating debts of those cities which could not make payment by a fixed date. By this stroke of its imagination, the legislature lawed all Kansas cities onto a "cash" basis and admonished them to stay there.
4. informal To enforce the law. De gram jury lawed me all de time an' dat place got too hot.
5. To subject to legal restrictions. Insurance may fairly be said to head the list of objects of legislative interference. It has been lawed and lawed until it is nearly outlawed, and the cry for more continues to go up unsatisfied

noun laws

1. obsolete A tumulus of stones.
2. Northern England, Scotland, archaic A hill. [Y]ou might climb the Law, where the whale's jawbone stood landmark in the buzzing wind, and behold the face of many counties, and the smoke and spires of many towns, and the sails of distant ships.

Similar: act, canon, code, convention, constitution, corpus, decree, dictate, directive, doctrine, edict, enactment, guideline, legislation, mandate, maxim, order, ordinance, pandect, prescription, prohibition, regulation, rule, standard, statute, tenet

noun laws

1. dialectal, obsolete A score; share of expense; legal charge.

Similar: act, canon, code, convention, constitution, corpus, decree, dictate, directive, doctrine, edict, enactment, guideline, legislation, mandate, maxim, order, ordinance, pandect, prescription, prohibition, regulation, rule, standard, statute, tenet

interjection

1. dated An exclamation of mild surprise; lawks; in interjections, a minced oath for Lord. ‘Do tell me once for all, whether you intend to marry Mr Watts or not?’ ‘Law Mama, how can I tell you what I don't know myself?’

proper noun Laws

1. A surname originating as a patronymic.
2. A diminutive of the male given name Lawrence.

proper noun Laws

1. countable, uncountable A topographic surname from Old English, perhaps originally meaning someone who lives near a burial mound.
2. Scotland, countable, uncountable a conical hill
3. countable, uncountable A village in South Lanarkshire council area, Scotland, United Kingdom (OS grid ref NS8252).

proper noun

1. Judaism Synonym of Torah: the five Books of Moses, particularly the commandments in it, as well as their specification in the Mishnah and their further interpretation in later religious literature.

   Similar: Torah

2. the commandments in the Books of Moses, sometimes seen as transcended by Christ
3. the commandments and moral principles that are binding for Christians, such as the Decalogue, the teachings of the New Testament, the Church Fathers, etc.

proper noun

1. A surname from Chinese.

noun LAWs

1. abbreviation, acronym Acronym of light anti-tank weapon