chancery

[ chan-suh-ree ]

noun,plural chan·cer·ies.
  1. the office or department of a chancellor; chancellery.

  2. an office of public records, especially those of the Lord Chancellor in England.

  1. (in England) the Lord Chancellor's court, now a division of the High Court of Justice.

  2. Law.

  3. the administrative office of a diocese.

  4. Roman Catholic Church. a department of the Curia Romana now having the responsibility for issuing bulls to establish new dioceses, benefices, etc.

Idioms about chancery

  1. in chancery,

    • Law. in litigation in a court of chancery.

    • Wrestling, Boxing. (of a contestant's head) held under an opponent's arm.

    • in a helpless or embarrassing position.

Origin of chancery

1
1325–75; Middle English chancerie, variant of chancelrie, syncopated variant of chancelleriechancellery

Words Nearby chancery

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use chancery in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for chancery

chancery

/ (ˈtʃɑːnsərɪ) /


nounplural -ceries
  1. Also called: Chancery Division (in England) the Lord Chancellor's court, now a division of the High Court of Justice

  2. Also called: court of chancery (in the US) a court of equity

  1. British the political section or offices of an embassy or legation

  2. another name for chancellery

  3. a court of public records; archives

  4. Christianity a diocesan office under the supervision of a bishop's chancellor, having custody of archives, issuing official enactments, etc

  5. in chancery

    • law (of a suit) pending in a court of equity

    • wrestling boxing (of a competitor's head) locked under an opponent's arm

    • in an awkward or helpless situation

Origin of chancery

1
C14: shortened from chancellery

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012