assize

[ uh-sahyz ]

/ əˈsaɪz /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR assize ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Usually assizes. a trial session, civil or criminal, held periodically in specific locations in England, usually by a judge of a superior court.

an edict, ordinance, or enactment made at a session of a legislative assembly.

an inquest before members of a jury or assessors; a judicial inquiry.

an action, writ, or verdict of an assize.

judgment: the last assize; the great assize.

a statute for the regulation and control of weights and measures or prices of general commodities in the market.

Nearby words

assisted respiration, assisted suicide, assistive, assistive technology, assiut, assize, assizes, assn, assn., assoc., associable

Origin of assize

1250–1300; Middle English asise < Old French: a sitting, noun use of feminine of asis seated at (past participle of aseeir), equivalent to a- a-⁵ + -sis < Latin sēssum (sed- stem of sedēre to sit¹ + -tus past participle suffix)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for assize

She had left the Assize Court acquitted, declared to be innocent, amid the applause of the crowd.
The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Volume VIII.|Guy de Maupassant
If ignorance would look upon its own degradation, let it spend a few hours in an assize court.
The History Of The Last Trial By Jury For Atheism In England|George Jacob Holyoake
I shall attend to give evidence at the Assize with Mr. Edwards.
Life of Richard Trevithick, Volume II (of 2)|Francis Trevithick
These money payments and payments of articles of money value are called "rents of assize," or established rents.
An Introduction to the Industrial and Social History of England|Edward Potts Cheyney

This law seemed equitable in order to prevent fraud in fixing the assize.
Nineteen Centuries of Drink in England|Richard Valpy French

British Dictionary definitions for assize

assize

/ (əˈsaɪz) /

noun

(in the US)

a sitting of a legislative assembly or administrative body
an enactment or order of such an assembly

English history a trial or judicial inquest, the writ instituting such inquest, or the verdict

Scots law

trial by jury
another name for jury 1

Word Origin for assize

C13: from Old French assise session, from asseoir to seat, from Latin assidēre to sit beside; see assess

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