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law

1
[ law ]
/ lɔ /
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noun
verb (used with object)
Chiefly Dialect. to sue or prosecute.
British. (formerly) to expeditate (an animal).
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Idioms about law

Origin of law

1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English law(e), lagh(e), Old English lagu, from unattested Old Norse lagu, early plural of lag “layer, stratum, a laying in order, fixed tune, (in collective sense) law”; akin to lay1, lie2

synonym study for law

See theory.

OTHER WORDS FROM law

law·like, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH law

law , hypothesis, theory (see synonym study at theory)

Other definitions for law (2 of 5)

law2
[ law ]
/ lɔ /

adjective, adverb, noun Obsolete.
an obsolete variant of low1.

Other definitions for law (3 of 5)

law3
[ law ]
/ lɔ /

verb (used with or without object), noun Obsolete.
an obsolete variant of low2.

Other definitions for law (4 of 5)

law4
[ law ]
/ lɔ /

interjection Older Use.
(used as an exclamation expressing astonishment.)

Origin of law

4
First recorded in 1580–90; form of lord

Other definitions for law (5 of 5)

Law
[ law ]
/ lɔ /

noun
Andrew Bon·ar [bon-er], /ˈbɒn ər/, 1858–1923, English statesman, born in Canada: prime minister 1922–23.
John, 1671–1729, Scottish financier.
William, 1686–1761, English clergyman and devotional writer.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use law in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for law (1 of 4)

law1
/ (lɔː) /

noun

Other words from law

Related adjectives: judicial, jural, juridical, legal

Word Origin for law

Old English lagu, from Scandinavian; compare Icelandic lög (pl) things laid down, law

British Dictionary definitions for law (2 of 4)

law2
/ (lɔː) /

noun
Scot a hill, esp one rounded in shape

Word Origin for law

Old English hlǣw

British Dictionary definitions for law (3 of 4)

law3
/ (lɔː) /

adjective
a Scot word for low 1

British Dictionary definitions for law (4 of 4)

Law
/ (lɔː) /

noun
Andrew Bonar (ˈbɒnə). 1858–1923, British Conservative statesman, born in Canada; prime minister (1922–23)
Denis. born 1940, Scottish footballer; a striker, he played for Manchester United (1962–73) and Scotland (30 goals in 55 games, 1958–74); European Footballer of the Year (1964)
John. 1671–1729, Scottish financier. He founded the first bank in France (1716) and the Mississippi Scheme for the development of Louisiana (1717), which collapsed due to excessive speculation
Jude . born 1972, British film actor, who starred in The Talented Mr Ripley (1999), Cold Mountain (2003), and Sherlock Holmes (2009)
William. 1686–1761, British Anglican divine, best known for A Serious Call to a Holy and Devout Life (1728)
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

Scientific definitions for law

law
[ lô ]

A statement that describes invariable relationships among phenomena under a specified set of conditions. Boyle's law, for instance, describes what will happen to the volume of an ideal gas if its pressure changes and its temperature remains the same. The conditions under which some physical laws hold are idealized (for example, there are no ideal gases in the real world), thus some physical laws apply universally but only approximately. See Note at hypothesis.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Other Idioms and Phrases with law

law

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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