Inns of Court
Americanplural noun
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the four voluntary legal societies in England Lincoln's Inn, the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, and Gray's Inn that have the exclusive privilege of calling candidates to the English bar after they have received such instruction and taken such examinations as the Inns provide.
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the buildings owned and used by the Inns.
plural noun
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Sterling Law Building was designed to evoke England’s historic Inns of Court, complete with soaring stone archways, stained-glass windows, carved oak interiors, tranquil courtyards, and communal spaces intended to foster scholarly community.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
A manic energy is apparent, a compulsion to relate the character’s experience with the precision of a member of London’s Inns of Court.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 23, 2023
It was an idea shaped in part by his British education at Harrow, Cambridge and the Inns of Court in London, and one shared by many of his peers.
From New York Times ● Jul. 26, 2018
Robert started school while living in Hendon, north-west London, while his father trained at the Inns of Court.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 25, 2017
That copy-now in the library of the Middle Temple, one of the Inns of Court in London—had previously been owned by his friend and Shakespeare’s, Ben Jonson.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
