oyer
Americannoun
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a hearing in open court involving the production of some document pleaded by one party and demanded by the other, the party pleading the document being said to make profert.
noun
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English legal history (in the 13th century) an assize
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(formerly) the reading out loud of a document in court
Etymology
Origin of oyer
1375–1425; late Middle English < Anglo-French; Old French oïr to hear < Latin audīre
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 Mosbachers wintered comfortably in Palm Beach; summers were given oyer to sailing on Long Island Sound, first in the family shell boat, and then, when Bus was nine, in his own boat: a Star.
From Time Magazine Archive
One of the men who parachuted from the sky oyer Normandy on D-day was a 29-year-old Anglican chaplain, George Edward Maule Parry.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Chinese Communist air force had a tactical advantage oyer the U.S.
From Time Magazine Archive
I went running oyer to Father and recounted the entire story, or at least those parts he hadn’t been able to follow himself.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
Hermione hurried oyer to Katie’s wailing friend and put an arm around her.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
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.
