lawyer

[law-yer, loi-er]

noun

1. a person whose profession is to represent clients in a court of law or to advise or act for clients in other legal matters.

2. New Testament.,  an interpreter of the Mosaic Law. Luke 14:3.

verb (used without object)

1. to work as a lawyer; practice law.

verb (used with object)

1. to submit (a case, document, or the like) to a lawyer for examination, advice, clarification, etc.

verb phrase

1. lawyer up,  to hire a lawyer, especially when there is a perceived risk of being sued or charged with a crime.

   It’s time to lawyer up to protect yourself and your family.

lawyer

/ ˈlɔːjə, ˈlɔɪə /

noun

1. a member of the legal profession, esp a solicitor See also advocate barrister solicitor

2. a popular name for burbot

Other Word Forms

• lawyerlike adjective
• lawyerly adjective
• delawyer verb (used with object)
• nonlawyer noun
• underlawyer noun
• unlawyerlike adjective
• unlawyerly adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of lawyer¹

First recorded in 1350–1400, lawyer is from the Middle English word lawyere. See law ¹, -ier ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of lawyer¹

C14: from _law ¹

Example Sentences

The Tories also plan to abolish taxpayer-funded legal aid in immigration cases, with a document on the proposals arguing there "will be no need for lawyers" because claims would be "fairly assessed against the criteria".

From BBC

Geoffrey S. Corn, a retired judge advocate general lawyer and former Army senior adviser for law-of-war issues, stated the obvious to the Times: That selling a dangerous product is different from an armed attack:

From Salon

The English singer has filed an intellectual property court claim against Carter Lang, with her lawyers saying she had "no choice" after he claimed writing credits on four of her songs, which she "strongly refuted".

From BBC

"When drafting a contract, lawyers try to include everything. But sometimes life happens and the contract needs to be amended. That is what happened in this case," VCL said.

From BBC

The other parties distanced themselves from PPE Medpro once the government began legal action, and only communicated through lawyers, the spokesperson said.

From BBC

Related Words

• advocate 
• counselor