title

⇒ Wu: 抬頭／抬头 (⁶de-deu)

→ Japanese: タイトル (taitoru)

→ Korean: 타이틀 (taiteul)

→ Welsh: teitl

From Middle English title, titel, from Old English titul (“title, heading, superscription”), from Latin titulus (“title, inscription”). Doublet of tilde, titer/titre, titlo, tittle, and titulus.

doublet

a good title to an estate, or an imperfect title

(property law) Legal right to ownership of a property; a deed or other certificate proving this.


bond

en-noun

bond (countable and uncountable, plural bonds)

From Middle English bond, a variant of band, from Old English beand, bænd, bend (“bond, chain, fetter, band, ribbon, ornament, chaplet, crown”), from Proto-Germanic *bandaz, *bandiz (“band, fetter”). Cognate with Dutch band, German Band, Swedish band. Doublet of Bund. Related to bind.

(law) Evidence of a long-term debt, by which the bond issuer (the borrower) is obliged to pay interest when due, and repay the principal at maturity, as specified on the face of the bond certificate. The rights of the holder are specified in the bond indenture, which contains the legal terms and conditions under which the bond was issued. Bonds are available in two forms: registered bonds, and bearer bonds.

The bailiff released the prisoner as soon as the bond was posted.

Ellison, who is out on bond, also faces the prospect of lengthy imprisonment. Her lawyers did not comment.

2023 September 30, Victoria Bekiempis, “‘Dark’ donations, free love and the fall: the Sam Bankman-Fried trial is here”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:


charter

en-verb

charter (third-person singular simple present charters, present participle chartering, simple past and past participle chartered)

charters (present singular third-person)
chartering (participle present)
chartered (participle past)
chartered (past)

From Middle English charter, chartre, borrowed from Old French chartre, from Latin chartula (diminutive of charta). See chart. Doublet of chartula.

(transitive, Canada, law) (of a peace officer) To inform (an arrestee) of their constitutional rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms upon arrest.


slammer

Margaret was also, by her own admission, a determined slammer of doors.

1989, Jane Howard, Margaret Mead: A Life, page 27:

A man being sentenced for starving some horses chose 24 hours in the slammer with no food rather than seven days with the regular amenities.

1971 June 7, “Better Than Prison”, in Time:

(slang, usually "the slammer") Jail, prison.

The basic modern 'Pog' game is played thus. Each child tosses a pog into the arena, face-up or face-down, as agreed. Each player in turn takes his slammer and pitches it hard onto the accumulated pile of pogs.

1997, Iona Archibald Opie, Peter Opie, Children's Games with Things, page 120:

In the game of Pogs, the heavier piece used to strike the stack of counters.

I was in Britain, wanting to take a train to Portsmouth, and I only needed a one-way ticket. I did love the English trains; we still had slammers then. A slammer is a train where you got to slam the door shut yourself.

2009, Claude Lambert, On Pets and Men, page 33:


secret police

1979, Jello Biafra & John Greenway, "California Über Alles", Dead Kennedys, California Über Alles.
Now it is nineteen eighty-four / Knock-knock at your front door / It's the suede denim secret police / They have come for your uncool niece

Leading Jordanian exponents of the Salafi-jihadi world view, such as Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, are now behind bars or silent, fearing arrest by the powerful mukhabarat secret police.

2014 November 27, Ian Black, “Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis”, in The Guardian:

A police force operating in secrecy and outside the normal boundaries of law and hidden from the public, usually in support of a totalitarian government's political policies to suppress political dissent through the use of methods including intimidation, violence, and surveillance.

geheime polisie

police operating outside normal boundaries of law


deicide

en-noun

deicide (countable and uncountable, plural deicides)

(Christianity, theology) The crucifixion of Jesus, viewed as a crime.


umpire

From a Middle English rebracketing of a noumpere as an oumpere, from Old French nonper (“odd number, not even (as a tie-breaking arbitrator)”), from non (“not”) + per (“equal”), from Latin par (“equal”).

съдия

an official who oversees a game or match

You for their umpire and their ſynod take, / And their appeal alone to Cæſar make.

a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “To His Sacred Majesty. A Panegyric on his Coronation.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume I, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 34:

(law) A person who arbitrates between contending parties.

մրցավար

a person who arbitrates between contending parties


pursuit

en-noun

pursuit (countable and uncountable, plural pursuits)

Old French poursuite, from the verb porsuir (“to pursue”).

That pursuit for tithes ought, and of ancient time did pertain to the spiritual court.

1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):


tax return

Stealing people's mail / On a Friday night / Drivin' in the mountains / Winding 'round and 'round / Rummage through your mailboxes / Take your mail back to town / And we got license plates, wedding gifts, tax returns / Checks to politicians from real estate firms / Money, bills, and canceled checks / Pretty funny pictures of your kids / Gonna steal your mail

1980, “Stealing People's Mail”, performed by Dead Kennedys:

(finance) A declaration of income etc. for tax purposes: a report of income, deductions, contributions, and related financial information filed by a taxpayer with a national or local tax authority, used by the authority to determine the amount of taxation, usually consisting of forms completed by the taxpayer

declaració de la renda

declaration of income to the tax authority


MDC

Metropolitan Detention Center
w:Metropolitan Detention Center

(US, law enforcement) Initialism of Metropolitan Detention Center.


terminator

[ˈtɜː.mɪ.næɪ.ɾə]

* Partly from post-classical Latin terminator (5th century), from Latin terminō; partly from terminate + -or.
* (android that kills humans): After the 1984 film The Terminator.

Someone who terminates or ends something, especially (in later use) an assassin or exterminator.

(computing) A text character or string that serves to mark the end of a document or transmission.

(biochemistry) A DNA sequence that causes RNA transcription to cease and an mRNA transcript to break off.

(electronics) An electrical device that absorbs reflection at the end of a transmission line.

(science fiction) An intelligent android created to destroy humans.


continue

en-verb

continue (third-person singular simple present continues, present participle continuing, simple past and past participle continued)

continues (present singular third-person)
continuing (participle present)
continued (participle past)
continued (past)

terminate

antonym(s) of “transitive, proceed with, to prolong”

From Middle English continuen, from Old French continuer, from Latin continuāre. Displaced native Old English þurhwunian.

This meeting has been continued to the thirteenth of July.

(transitive, law) To adjourn, prorogue, put off.


composition

en-noun

composition (countable and uncountable, plural compositions)

→ Korean: 컴포지션 (keompojisyeon)

/ˌkɒmpəˈzɪʃən/

From Middle English composicioun, borrowed from Old French composicion, from Latin compositiō, compositiōnem.

hyvitys

agreement to pay money in order to clear a liability or obligation

(obsolete) A payment of money in order to clear a liability or obligation; a settling or fine.

(Singapore, law) A payment of fine in order to settle a (usually minor) criminal charge.

(law) an agreement or compromise by which a creditor or group of creditors accepts partial payment from a debtor.

velkajärjestely

legal: agreement by which creditors accept partial payment from a debtor


contempt

contempt (countable and uncountable, plural contempts)

From Latin contemptus (“scorn”), from contemnō (“I scorn, despise”), from com- + temnō (“I despise”). Displaced native Old English forsewennes.

The panel voted unanimously on Tuesday to recommend charging Mr. [Stephen K.] Bannon with criminal contempt of Congress for defying its subpoena, sending the issue to the House.

2021 October 19, Luke Broadwater, “House Panel Recommends Contempt Charge Against Bannon”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Justice Merchan has yet to issue a ruling on whether to find Mr. Trump in contempt.

2024 April 28, Maggie Haberman, Jonah E. Bromwich, “Trump’s Trial Could Bring a Rarity: Consequences for His Words”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(law) Open disrespect or willful disobedience of the authority of a court of law or legislative body.

неуважение

law: open disrespect or willful disobedience of the authority


misjoinder

(law) An incorrect union of parties or of causes of action in a procedure in court.


amenable

en-adj

amenable (comparative more amenable, superlative most amenable)

more amenable (comparative)
most amenable (superlative)

From French as if *amenable, from amener (“to bring or lead, fetch in or to”), from a- + mener (“to lead, conduct”), from Late Latin mināre (“to drive”), Latin deponent minārī (“to threaten, menace”).

Decisions of the Boards of Appeal are amenable to actions before the Court of Justice of the European Communities.

(law) Liable to the legal authority of (something).

hatálya/illetékessége alá tartozik

liable to the legal authority of (something)


prevarication

en-noun

prevarication (countable and uncountable, plural prevarications)

/pɹɪˌvæɹɪˈkeɪʃən/

/pɹɪˌvæɹəˈkeɪʃən/

From Anglo-Norman prevaricassion, Middle French prevarication, and their source, Latin praevāricātiō (“collusion with an opponent; transgression; deceit”), from the stem of praevāricor.

der

(Ancient Rome, law, historical) The collusion of an informer with the defendant, for the purpose of making a sham prosecution.

If it shall appeare, that they haue forfeited their Faith, or wronged their Client by preuarication.

1628, Robert Le Grys, Argenis, translation of original by John Barclay:

(law) A false or deceitful seeming to undertake a thing for the purpose of defeating or destroying it.


capacity

en-noun

capacity (countable and uncountable, plural capacities)

From Middle English capacite, from Old French capacite, from Latin capācitās, from capāx (“able to hold much”), from capiō (“to hold, to contain, to take, to understand”).

Surprisingly few men are lacking in capacity, but they fail because they are lacking in application. Either they never learn how to work, or, having learned, they are too indolent to apply themselves with the seriousness and the attention that is necessary to solve important problems.

1929, Calvin Coolidge, The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge, New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corporation, →OCLC, page 171:

Capability; the ability to perform some task

kapacitet

capability; the ability to perform some task


misrule

en-verb

misrule (third-person singular simple present misrules, present participle misruling, simple past and past participle misruled)

misrules (present singular third-person)
misruling (participle present)
misruled (participle past)
misruled (past)

From Middle English mysrule; equivalent to mis- + rule.

(law) Of a trial judge, to make a bad decision in court.


conclusion

en-noun

conclusion (countable and uncountable, plural conclusions)

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French conclusion, from Latin conclūsiō, from the past participle stem of conclūdere (“to conclude”), from con- + claudō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u- (“key, hook, nail”). By surface analysis, conclude + -sion.

der

(law) The end or close of a pleading, for example, the formal ending of an indictment, "against the peace", etc.

It was determined, that though the fine operated at first by conclusion, and passed no interest, yet the estoppel should bind the heir

1818, William Cruise, A Digest of the Laws of England Respecting Real Property:

(law) An estoppel or bar by which a person is held to a particular position.


poll

en-verb

poll (third-person singular simple present polls, present participle polling, simple past and past participle polled)

polls (present singular third-person)
polling (participle present)
polled (participle past)
polled (past)

From Middle English pol, polle ("scalp, pate"), from or cognate with Middle Dutch pol, pōle, polle (“top, summit; head”), from Proto-West Germanic *poll, from Proto-Germanic *pullaz (“round object, head, top”), from Proto-Indo-European *bolno-, *bōwl- (“orb, round object, bubble”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to blow, swell”).
Akin to Scots pow (“head, crown, scalp, skull”), Saterland Frisian pol (“round, full, brimming”, adj), German Low German Polle, Poll (“round object, ball”), German Low German Poller (“head, tree-top, bulb”), Danish puld (“crown of a hat”), Swedish dialectal pull (“head”).
Meaning "collection of votes" is first recorded 1625, from the notion of "counting heads".

cog

a polled deed

(law) To cut or shave smooth or even; to cut in a straight line without indentation


issue

From Middle English issue, from Old French issue (“an exit, a way out”), feminine past participle of issir (“to exit”), from Latin exeō (“go out, exit”), from prefix ex- (“out”) + eō (“go”).

drain

small incision etc. to drain excess bodily fluid

He died intestate and without issue, so the extended family have all lawyered up.

Someone or something that flows out or comes out, particularly:

(now usually historical or law) Offspring: one's natural child or children.

(historical or rare law) Income derived from fines levied by a court or law-enforcement officer; the fines themselves.

The issue before the court is whether participation in a group blog makes the plaintiff a public figure under the relevant statute.

Any question or situation to be resolved, particularly:

(law) A point of law or fact in dispute or question in a legal action presented for resolution by the court.


issue

en-verb

issue (third-person singular simple present issues, present participle issuing, simple past and past participle issued)

issues (present singular third-person)
issuing (participle present)
issued (participle past)
issued (past)

(law) To come to a point in fact or law on which the parties join issue.


promise

en-noun

promise (countable and uncountable, plural promises)

From Middle English promis, promisse, borrowed from Old French promesse, from Medieval Latin prōmissa, Latin prōmissum (“a promise”), feminine and neuter past participles of prōmittō (“I send forth, I say beforehand, I promise”), from pro (“forth”) + mittere (“to send”); see mission. Compare admit, commit, permit, etc. Displaced native ġehātan (“to promise”) and ġehāt (“a promise”).

He purſued Andrew Houſtoun upon his promiſe, to give him the like Sallary for the next year, and in abſence obtained him to be holden as confeſt and Decerned.

1668 July 3rd, James Dalrymple, “Thomas Rue contra Andrew Houſtoun” in The Deciſions of the Lords of Council & Seſſion I (Edinburgh, 1683), pages 547–548

(countable, law) A transaction between two persons whereby the first person undertakes in the future to render some service or gift to the second person or devotes something valuable now and here to his use.


particular

en-adj

particular (comparative more particular, superlative most particular)

more particular (comparative)
most particular (superlative)
non-comparable (also)

From Middle English particuler, from Anglo-Norman particuler, Middle French particuler, particulier, from Late Latin particularis (“partial; separate, individual”), from Latin particula (“(small) part”). Equivalent to particle + -ar. Compare particle.

подробен

concerned with, or attentive to, details; minute; precise; fastidious

a particular estate, or one precedent to an estate in remainder

a particular tenant

1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:

osa-

e.g. particular tenant - "osavuokralainen"


equitable

en-adj

equitable (comparative more equitable, superlative most equitable)

more equitable (comparative)
most equitable (superlative)

From French équitable, from Old French, from equité (“equity”).

Coordinate term: legal

(law) Relating to the general principles of justice that correct or supplement the provisions of the law; relating to equity or courts of equity.


clerk

From Middle English clerc, from Old English clerc, from Late Latin clēricus (“priest, clergyman, cleric”, also generally “learned man, clerk”), from Ancient Greek κληρικός (klērikós, “of the clergy”, adj. in church jargon), from κλῆρος (klêros, “lot, inheritance”, originally “shard used in casting lots”). Doublet of cleric.

der

One who occupationally provides assistance by working with records, accounts, letters, etc.; an office worker.

The chief legal advisor of a legislature or legislative chamber, who is usually also responsible for keeping minutes of sittings.


perjury

en-noun

perjury (countable and uncountable, plural perjuries)

/ˈpɜː(ɹ)d͡ʒəɹi/

From Anglo-Norman perjurie, from Latin perjurare (“swear falsely”), from per- + jūrāre. Displaced native Old English mānāþ (literally “false oath”).

ncog

We declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.

(law) The deliberate giving of false or misleading testimony under oath.


canonic

en-adj

canonic (comparative more canonic, superlative most canonic)

more canonic (comparative)
most canonic (superlative)


tango

From translingual Tango (representing the letter T), from English tango (see above).

Tango down!

The two tangoes running toward the carnage at the prison door dropped simultaneously, dead in their tracks.

2005, Charles W. Sasser, Detachment Delta: Operation Aces Wild, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 370:

The sharp crack of breaking glass preceded Emily's calm voice. "One tango dead and Marcus is down, John."

2017, Beth Rhodes, Strike Zone, →ISBN, page 210:

(US, law enforcement, military slang) A target; an enemy.


courtesy

en-noun

courtesy (countable and uncountable, plural courtesies)

From Middle English curteisie, curtesie, from Anglo-Norman curtesie, from Old French curteisie, cortoisie. Equivalent to courteous + -y (abstract noun suffix).

(law) The life interest that the surviving husband has in the real or heritable estate of his wife.


assassination

The assassination of the king occurred at night.

Liu's agents pursued him and he escaped assassination only by throwing his clothing away by the Chʻien-tʻang River near Hangchow, thus suggesting suicide.

1963, “Introduction”, in Wing-tsit Chan, transl., Instructions for Practical Living and Other Neo-Confucian Writings by Wang Yang-ming, Columbia University Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, page xxiv:

The murder of a person, especially for political reasons or for personal gain.


GFDL

GNU Free Documentation License
w:GNU Free Documentation License

Initialism of GNU Free Documentation License.


indict

en-verb

indict (third-person singular simple present indicts, present participle indicting, simple past and past participle indicted)

indicts (present singular third-person)
indicting (participle present)
indicted (participle past)
indicted (past)

From Middle English enditen, endyten (“to accuse”), from Old French enditer (“to dictate, indite”), from Late Latin indictāre, frequentative of Latin indicere (“to proclaim”), from in- + dicere (“to say”), or from in- + dictāre (“to say often, to dictate”). Doublet of indite.
The irregular spelling is due to the word having been borrowed into Middle English from Old French, and not from Latin as was the case with most other descendants of dictāre (but see dight). The borrowed /iː/ regularly shifted to /aɪ/ in the course of the Great Vowel Shift; the ⟨c⟩ represents a later attempt at graphic Latinisation.

der

his former manager was indicted for fraud

“Now, let’s consider what our competition did in the same six-week period,” wrote Betsy Ankney, Haley’s campaign manager. “Donald Trump had a good Q1, if you count being indicted as ‘good.'"

2023 April 11 [2023 April 10], Sarah Elbeshbishi, quoting Betsy Ankney, “Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley slams Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis in campaign letter”, in USA Today, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-12:

(law) To make a formal accusation or indictment for a crime against (a party) by the findings of a jury, especially a grand jury.

предявявам обвинение

to make a formal accusation or indictment


fence

en-noun

fence (countable and uncountable, plural fences)

→ Pennsylvania German: Fens

From Middle English fence, fens, short for defence, defens (“the act of defending”), from Old French defens, defense (see defence).
The sense "enclosure" arises in the mid 15th century.
Also from the 15th century is use as a verb in the sense "to enclose with a fence". The generalized sense "to defend, screen, protect" arises ca. 1500. The sense "to fight with swords (rapiers)" is from the 1590s (Shakespeare).
Displaced native Old English heġe (compare Modern English hedge).

the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence

The Bat—they called him the Bat.[…]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.

1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 01:

The Finn was a fence, a trafficker in stolen goods, primarily in software. In the course of this business, he sometimes came into contact with other fences, some of whom dealt in the more traditional articles of the trade.

1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 73:

(informal) Someone who hides or buys and sells stolen goods, a criminal middleman for transactions of stolen goods.

perista

someone who hides or buys and sells stolen goods


Casey

en-proper noun

Casey (countable and uncountable, plural Caseys)

Anglicisation of an Irish surname Ó Cathasaigh (“descendant of (a person named) Watchful”).

Planned Parenthood v. Casey
w:en:Planned Parenthood v. Casey

(US, law, US politics, informal, uncountable) Ellipsis of Planned Parenthood v. Casey. A 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that reaffirmed the right to having an abortion; and reaffirmed the existence of a right to privacy under due process following the 14th Amendment.


human rights

From human right + -s (suffix forming plural nouns and pluralia tantum).

suffix

We should not facilely judge China by the American standard of democracy, but its current human rights violations are beyond the pale. At the same time, we should not suspend our relationship because of the human rights issue. If we had always refused to deal with leaders who violated human rights, there would have been no opening to China in 1972.

1992, Richard Nixon, “The Pacific Triangle”, in Seize the Moment, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 178:

Another issue important to my district is human rights, specifically what is happening in China. My district includes San Francisco's famous Chinatown, and many of my constituents were deeply concerned—as was I—when the Chinese government began to crack down on protesters who were demonstrating peacefully in Beijing and throughout China. Huge demonstrations led to the Tiananmen Square massacre, where more than two thousand people who had dared to speak out against the government were killed and many more injured. The massacre was followed by even more suppression and imprisonment of protesters.

2008, Nancy Pelosi, “A Voice That Will Be Heard”, in Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters, Doubleday, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 92:

A United Nations report said Friday that disconnecting people from the internet is a human rights violation and against international law.

2011 June 3, David Kravets, “U.N. Report Declares Internet Access a Human Right”, in Wired, →ISSN:

(international law) The set of basic rights and freedoms that all humans should be guaranteed, including the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equality before the law.


engross

en-verb

engross (third-person singular simple present engrosses, present participle engrossing, simple past and past participle engrossed)

engrosses (present singular third-person)
engrossing (participle present)
engrossed (participle past)
engrossed (past)

From Middle English engrossen, from Anglo-Norman engrosser (“to gather in large quantities, draft something in final form”); partly from the phrase en gros (“in bulk, in quantity, at wholesale”), from en- + gros; and partly from Medieval Latin ingrossō (“thicken, write something large and in bold lettering”, v.), from in- + grossus (“great, big, thick”), from Old High German grōz (“big, thick, coarse”), from Proto-West Germanic *graut, from Proto-Germanic *grautaz (“large, great, thick, coarse grained, unrefined”), from Proto-Indo-European *ghrewə- (“to fell, put down, fall in”). More at in-, gross.

der

Coordinate term: longhand

This envelope had the air of an official record of some period long past, when clerks engrossed their stiff and formal chirography on more substantial materials than at present.

1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Custom-house. Introductory to ‘The Scarlet Letter.’”, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC, page 34:

laws that may be engrossed upon a finger nail

1846, Thomas De Quincey, “On Christianity, as an Organ of Political Movement”, in Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine:

Wherefore Mr. Micawber […] set to work at the petition, invented it, engrossed it on an immense sheet of paper, spread it out on a table, and appointed a time for all the club, and all within the walls if they chose, to come up to his room and sign it.

1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:

(transitive, now law) To write (a document) in large, aesthetic, and legible lettering; to make a finalized copy of.


dismissal

en-noun

dismissal (countable and uncountable, plural dismissals)

From dismiss + -al. A nineteenth-century coinage (modelled on committal etc.), replacing the regular form dismission.

(law) The rejection of a legal proceeding, or a claim or charge made therein.


canonical

en-adj

canonical (comparative more canonical, superlative most canonical)

more canonical (comparative)
most canonical (superlative)


instruction

en-noun

instruction (countable and uncountable, plural instructions)

From Middle English instruccioun, from Old French instruccion, from Latin instructio; equivalent to instruct + -ion.

инструкция

that which instructs, or with which one is instructed

I cannot act until I have taken instructions from my client.

(law, in the plural) The directions given by a client to their lawyer in relation to a particular legal matter, which govern the purpose and scope of their work.


yield

yield (countable and uncountable, plural yields)

From Middle English ȝeld, from Old English ġield, from Proto-West Germanic *geld, from Proto-Germanic *geldą (“reward, gift, money”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeldʰ- (“to pay”).
Cognates
Compare West Frisian jild, Dutch geld, Low German and German Geld, Danish gæld, Swedish gäld, Icelandic gjald. See also geld.

inh

Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of return.

2013 July 6, “The rise of smart beta”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8843, page 68:

(law) The current return as a percentage of the price of a stock or bond.


redirect

(law) An examination of a witness, following cross-examination, by the party that conducted the direct examination, re-examination.


judgment

en-noun

judgment (countable and uncountable, plural judgments)

From Middle English juggement, borrowed from Old French jugement, from Late Latin iūdicāmentum, from Latin iūdicō. Displaced native doom.
Morphologically judge + -ment

In judgments between the Rich and the Poor: it is not to be considered what the poor man needs, but what is his own

1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC:

Most heartily I do beseech the court To give the judgment.

c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

(law) The act of determining, as in courts of law, what is conformable to law and justice; also, the determination, decision, or sentence of a court, or of a judge.

присъда

(law) act of determining what is conformable to law


gangbanger

(vulgar, sex) Someone who takes part in a gangbang.


borough

burgh (Received Pronunciation, Scotland)

From Middle English borwe, borgh, burgh, buruh, from Old English burh, from Proto-West Germanic *burg, from Proto-Germanic *burgz (“stronghold, city”).
Cognate with Dutch burcht, German Burg, Swedish borg, French bourg, Turkish burç. Doublet of Brough, burgh, and Bury.

inh

(historical, British, law) An association of men who gave pledges or sureties to the king for the good behaviour of each other.


LP

en-noun

LP (countable and uncountable, plural LPs)

limited partnership
limited partnership#English

(business, law) Initialism of limited partnership.


permit

en-verb

permit (third-person singular simple present permits, present participle permitting, simple past and past participle permitted)

permits (present singular third-person)
permitting (participle present)
permitted (participle past)
permitted (past)

From Middle English permitten, borrowed from Middle French permettre, from Latin permittō (“give up, allow”), from per (“through”) + mittō (“send”).

Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 48:

Last week the decision on two points was conclusive: the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. will not permit ordination of women as ministers, but will permit their election as ruling elders, permission which makes possible a woman as moderator.

1930 December 19, “Presbytarians”, in Time:

(transitive) To allow (something) to happen, to give permission for.

He was ultimately cleared, but during that period, Mr. Ackman said, his lawyers would not permit him to defend himself publicly.

2009, Patricia Cohen, New York Times, 17 Jan 09, p. 1:

(transitive) To allow (someone) to do something; to give permission to.

What was left to say? Quite a lot, if only parliamentary time permitted.

2006 December 3, Mary Riddell, “Trident is a Weapon of Mass Destruction”, in The Observer:

For snackage there's a 1950s-themed diner plus a barbie on the terrace, weather permitting.

2009 July 25, John Mitchell, “Clubs Preview”, in The Guardian:

(intransitive) To allow for, to make something possible.

"You English are always so frivolous," said the Princess. "In Russia we have too many troubles to permit of our being light-hearted."

1910, Saki [pseudonym; Hector Hugh Munro], “Reginald in Russia”, in Reginald in Russia and Other Sketches, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 4:

"As an instrument of economic policy, incantation does not permit of minor doubts or scruples."

2007, Ian Jack, The Guardian, 22 Sep 07:

The Building Department permitted that project last week.

[…] they have not expanded so far federal permitting authority to site and permit transmission lines that are important for interstate commerce.

2022 September 20, Ezra Klein, quoting Jesse Jenkins, “Transcript: Ezra Klein Interviews Jesse Jenkins”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(transitive, pronounced like noun) To grant formal authorization for (something).


permit

رخصة

an artifact or document rendering something allowed or legal

learner's permit
learner's permit#English

An artifact or document rendering something allowed or legal.


versus

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-versus.wav

From Middle English versus, borrowed from Latin versus (“facing”), past participle of vertere (“to turn, change, overthrow, destroy”).

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans.

(law) Bringing a legal action against, as used in the title of a court case in which the first party indicates the plaintiff (or appellant or the like), and the second indicates the defendant (or respondent or the like).


servitude

en-noun

servitude (countable and uncountable, plural servitudes)

From Middle French servitude, from Latin servitūdō, from Latin servus (“slave”).

(law) A qualified beneficial interest severed or fragmented from the ownership of an inferior property and attached to a superior property or to some person other than the owner; the most common form is an easement.


blur

en-verb

blur (third-person singular simple present blurs, present participle blurring, simple past and past participle blurred)

blurs (present singular third-person)
blurring (participle present)
blurred (participle past)
blurred (past)

From earlier blurre, probably an alteration of blear, from Middle English bleren, from Old English *blerian (attested in āblered (“made bare, made bald”)), from Proto-West Germanic *blaʀjan, from Proto-Germanic *blazjaną (“to make pale”), from Proto-Germanic *blasaz (“pale”). Compare Scots blore, bloar (“to blur, cover with blots”), Low German bleeroged (“blear-eyed”). More at blear.

inh

(copyright law) To use a sign, image, expression, etc. sufficiently close to a trademarked one that it causes confusion between them.


nominal

→ Afrikaans: nominaal

From the Middle English nominalle (“of nouns”), borrowed from Latin nōminālis (“of names”), from nōmen (“name”).

a nominal difference

1856 February, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Oliver Goldsmith, republished in 1865, The Miscellaneous Writings of Lord Macaulay, Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts and Green, page 300,
At Edinburgh he passed eighteen months in nominal attendance on lectures, and picked up some superficial information about chemistry and natural history.

In contrast to the traditionally conservative or libertarian ethos of the entrepreneurial class, the oligarchy is increasingly allied with the nominally populist Democratic Party and its regulatory agenda.

2013 October 5, Joel Kotkin, “California’s New Feudalism Benefits a Few at the Expense of the Multitude”, in The Daily Beast:


nominal

Numeric codes of characters used in programming are nominals.

A number (usually natural) used like a name; a numeric code or identifier. (See nominal number on Wikipedia.)

(UK, police jargon) A person listed in the Police National Computer database as having been convicted, cautioned or recently arrested.


vacate

en-verb

vacate (third-person singular simple present vacates, present participle vacating, simple past and past participle vacated)

vacates (present singular third-person)
vacating (participle present)
vacated (participle past)
vacated (past)

From Latin vacātus, perfect participle of vacō.

The judge vacated the earlier decision when new evidence was presented.

On Thursday, the New York court of appeals vacated his conviction after concluding that a trial judge permitted jurors to see and hear too much evidence not directly related to the charges he faced. It also erased his 23-year prison sentence and ordered a retrial.

2024 April 27, Maya Yang, “Disgraced former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein hospitalized”, in The Observer, →ISSN:

(law, transitive) To have a court judgement set aside; to annul.


defense

en-noun

defense (countable and uncountable, plural defenses)

From Middle English defens, defense, from Old French defens, defense, from Late Latin dēfēnsa (“protection”). Displaced native Old English bewering. The verb is from the noun.

obrana

An argument in support or justification of something.

(law, by extension) The case presented by the defendant in a legal proceeding.

(law, by extension) The lawyer or team thereof who presents such a case.


tinsel

The noun is derived from Middle English tinsel (“destruction, loss; damnation, spiritual loss; state of damnation”) [and other forms], probably from Old Norse *týnsla (modern Norwegian tynsla (“damage, destruction”)), from týna (“to destroy; to lose; to perish”) (whence Middle English tinen (“to be deprived of, lose; to fail to maintain; to forfeit; to lose track of; to mislay; to be separated from; to escape; to be defeated or forced to withdraw; to waste; to consume, use up; to be destroyed, perish; to damn; to remove, take”)) + -sla (suffix forming nouns from verbs, either denoting the action of the verb or the medium or product of the action). Týna is derived from tjón (“damage; loss”), from Proto-Germanic *teuną (“damage; destruction, ruin; lack”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dū- (“to torment, vex”) or *dāw- (“to burn”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

nb...

tensale, tenselle, tinsail, tinsaill, tinsale, tinsall, tinsell, tinselle, tinsil, tinsill, tynsal, tynsall, tynsel, tynsele, tynsell, tynsil, tynsyll,


review

en-noun

review (countable and uncountable, plural reviews)

→ Bulgarian: ревю́ (revjú)

→ Finnish: review

→ Japanese: レビュー (rebyū)

→ Korean: 리뷰 (ribyu)

→ Tagalog: ribyu

From Middle English revewe, reveue, from Old French reveüe, revue (Modern French: revue), feminine form of reveü, past participle of reveoir (French: revoir), from Latin revideō, from re- +videō (“see, observe”) (English: video). Equivalent to re- + view. Compare retrospect. Doublet of revue.

The victims demanded a full judicial review of the case.

(law) A judicial reassessment of a case or an event.


premises

(law) The subject of a conveyance or deed.


shank

From Middle English schanke, from Old English sċanca (“leg”), from Proto-West Germanic *skankō, from Proto-Germanic *skankô (compare West Frisian skonk, Low German Schanke, German Schenkel (“shank, leg”), Danish skank, Norwegian skank), from *skankaz (compare Old Norse skakkr (“wry, crooked”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keng- (compare Middle Irish scingim (“I spring”), Ancient Greek σκάζω (skázō, “to limp”).

The metal part on a curb bit that falls below the mouthpiece, which length controls the severity of the leverage action of the bit, and to which the reins of the bridle are attached.

The end or remainder, particularly of a period of time.

the shank of the morning

AMANDA: Going now? You're joking! Why, it's only the shank of the evening, Mr. O’Connor!

1945, Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie, page 92:

The main part or beginning of a period of time.


forfeit

en-verb

forfeit (third-person singular simple present forfeits, present participle forfeiting, simple past and past participle forfeited or (rare) forfeit)

forfeits (present singular third-person)
forfeiting (participle present)
forfeited (participle past)
forfeited (past)
forfeit (participle past rare)
forfeit (past rare)

From Middle English forfait from ca. 1300, from Old French forfait (“crime”), originally the past participle of forfaire (“to transgress”), and Medieval Latin foris factum. During the 15th century, the sense shifted from the crime to the penalty for the crime.

After the raid on USPV, Plaintiffs filed claims with the FBI seeking return of their seized property. The government did not return the property in response to these claims; instead, it indicated that it was seeking to forfeit the property.

2024 January 23, Judge Milan D. Smith, Jr., Snitko v. United States, archived from the original on 2024-01-24:

(law) Of government officials: to legally remove property from its previous owners.


utter

utter (third-person singular simple present utters, present participle uttering, simple past and past participle uttered)

utters (present singular third-person)
uttering (participle present)
uttered (participle past)
uttered (past)

From Middle English utter, partly from utter (adjective, adverb), partly from Middle Dutch uteren.

1564, Proclamation of Elizabeth I of England dated November, 1564, London: Richard Jugge and John Cawood, 1565,
[…] there are […] forrayne peeces of golde, of the like quantitie and fashion (although of lesse value) lyke to an Englyshe Angell, brought hyther, and here vttered and payde for ten shyllynges of syluer, beyng for they lacke of wayght, and for the basenesse of the allay, not worth. vii. shillinges, to the great deceite and losse of the subiectes of this her Realme:

1735, Jonathan Swift, Drapier’s Letters, Letter 3, in The Works of Jonathan Swift, Dublin: George Faulkner, Volume 4, p. 123,
There is nothing remaining to preserve us from Ruin, but that the whole Kingdom should continue in a firm determinate Resolution never to receive or utter this FATAL Coin:

1842, cited in Supplement to The Jurist, containing a Digest of All the Reported Cases […] published during the year 1842, p. 49,
If two persons jointly prepare counterfeit coin, and then utter it in different shops, apart from each other, but in concert, and intending to share the proceeds, the utterings of each are the joint utterings of both, and they may be convicted jointly.

A person shall not utter a postage stamp knowing it to be forged.

1914, Section 87G(2), Crimes Act 1914 (Cth)

1948, 18 U.S. Code § 486, Uttering coins of gold, silver or other metal
Whoever, except as authorized by law, makes or utters or passes, or attempts to utter or pass, any coins of gold or silver or other metal, or alloys of metals, intended for use as current money, whether in the resemblance of coins of the United States or of foreign countries, or of original design, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

(transitive, law) To put (currency) into circulation.

пускам в обращение

put counterfeit money etc. into circulation

A man named Edward Agar was convicted in October 1855 of uttering a forged cheque, and sentenced to be transported for life.

1875, George Hayter Chubb, Protection from fire and thieves including the construction of locks, safes, strong-rooms, and fireproof buildings : burglary, and the means of preventing it; fire, its detection, prevention, and extinction; etc. : also a complete list of patents for locks and safes, page 23:

(transitive, law) To commit the crime of uttering (knowingly presenting forged documentation).


personality

en-noun

personality (countable and uncountable, plural personalities)

→ Japanese: パーソナリティ (pāsonariti)

/pɜːsəˈnælətɪ/

[ˌpɝsəˈnælɪɾi]

Coined between 1350 and 1400 as Middle English personalite, from Middle French [Term?], from Latin persōnālitās.
Morphologically personal + -ity

(law) That quality of a law which concerns the condition, state, and capacity of persons.


puny

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-puny.wav

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *pós
Proto-Indo-European *-ti
Proto-Indo-European *pós-ti
Proto-Italic *posti
Latin poste
Latin post
Proto-Indo-European *íh₂
Latin ea
Latin posteā
Vulgar Latin *postius
Old French puis
Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁-
Proto-Indo-European *-tós
Proto-Indo-European *ǵn̥h₁tós
Proto-Italic *gnātos
Latin gnātus
Latin nātus
Old French né
Old French puisné
Middle French puisnébor.
English puisne
English puny
 PIE word
 *pós
A respelling of puisne, from Anglo-Norman puisné (“later, more recent; junior; weakly”) [and other forms] and Middle French puisné (“born after (a specified person); younger, youngest; one who is born after (a specified person)”) (modern French puîné (“cadet (born after a sibling); a cadet (someone born after a sibling)”)), from puis (“after; since”) + né (“born”). Puis is derived from Old French pois (“after; since”), from Vulgar Latin *postius (“afterward”), from Latin posteā (“afterwards; hereafter; thereafter; next, then”), from post (“after; since”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pós (“afterwards”)) + ea (“these (things)”); and né from Latin nātus (“born”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget; to give birth; to produce”).

der

(obsolete)
Alternative spelling of puisne
(law) A puisne or junior judge.

Alternative spelling of puisne
A puisne or junior judge.

[T]he whole companye or most parte of the Studentꝭ [Studentis] of the same house mette toogether to beginne their Christmas, of wᶜʰ som̃e came to see sports […] others to make sporte wᵗʰall of this last sorte were they whome they call Fresh-menn Punies of the first yeare, who are by no meanes admitted to be agent's or behoulders of those sports, before themselues haue biñe patient perfourmers of them.

c. 1610, “[The Election of the Prince]”, in Frederick S[amuel] Boas, editor, The Christmas Prince (The Malone Society Reprints; 47b), London: Printed for the Malone Society by Frederick Hall M.A. at the Oxford University Press, published 1923 (indicated as 1922), →OCLC, page 3, lines 9–12 and 14–18:

(university slang, law) A new student at a school, university, the Inns of Court, etc.; a junior.


stranger

acquaintance

antonym(s) of “person whom one does not know”

From Middle English straunger, from Old French estrangier (“foreign, alien”), from estrange, from Latin extraneus (“foreign, external”) (whence also English estrange), from extra (“outside of”). Cognate with French étranger (“foreigner, stranger”) and Spanish extranjero (“foreigner”). Displaced native Old English fremde (literally “strange or unfamiliar person”).

sumido

one who has not been seen for a long time

Actual possession of land gives a good title against a stranger having no title.

[Judge Beverly] Davis then granted the adoption to the new wife of the boy's father; this action designated the boy's natural mother a "legal stranger," terminating all rights the mother had to visit her child.

1980 August 9, Jil Clark, “Lesbian Mother Fights For Son”, in Gay Community News, page 1:

(law) One not privy or party to an act, contract, or title; a mere intruder or intermeddler; one who interferes without right.


sergeant

From Middle English sergeant, sergeaunt, serjent, serjaunt, serjawnt, sergant, from Old French sergeant, sergent, serjant, sergient, sergant (“sergeant, servant”), from Medieval Latin servientem, accusative of serviens (“a servant, vassal, soldier, apparitor”), from Latin serviēns (“serving”), present participle of serviō (“serve, be a slave to”). Doublet of servant and servient.
The shift from /vj/ > /dʒ/ was a regular development in Old French. Compare cavea > cage, salvia > sage.
The fish is so called because of its stripes, supposed to resemble a sergeant's insignia of rank.
The pronunciation with /ɑɹ/ is due to a widespread development of Middle English er + consonant (see barn, start etc.). In sergeant, the spelling was standardised in one way, the pronunciation in another (compare clerk, derby in Commonwealth English, further parson vs. person, and varsity vs. university).

All other sergeants and barristers indiscriminately (except in the Court of Common Pleas, where only sergeants are admitted) may take upon them the protection and defense of any suitors.

1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:

(law, historical) A lawyer of the highest rank, equivalent to the doctor of civil law.


leapfrog

en-noun

leapfrog (countable and uncountable, plural leapfrogs)

Sam Hood
State Library of New South Wales

The Supreme Court can hear appeals direct from the High Court under the ‘leapfrog’ procedure. This procedure is reserved for matters certified by the Supreme Court to be of general public importance—the type of issue which would ultimately be appealed from the Court of Appeal in any event. There are normally a few of these direct appeals from the High Court each year.

2015, Scott Slorach, Judith Embley, Peter Goodchild, Catherine Shephard, “The Court System of England & Wales”, in Legal Systems & Skills, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 75:

An appeal to the Court of Cassation can be filed against judgments issued on (first) appeal, which means judgments issued in general by a court of appeals, even though the Code provides for judgments issued by courts of first instance that can be reviewed by the Court of Cassation through a sort of ‘leapfrog’ appeal; […]

2017, Elisabetta Silvestri, “The Italian Supreme Court of Cassation: Of Misnomers and Unaccomplished Missions”, in Cornelius Hendrik (Remco) van Rhee, Yulin Fu, editors, Supreme Courts in Transition in China and the West: Adjudication at the Service of Public Goals (Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice; 59), Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature, →DOI, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 234:

(chiefly British, law, usually attributive) The process by which a case is appealed or allowed to be appealed directly to a supreme court, bypassing an intermediate appellate court.


leapfrog

en-verb

leapfrog (third-person singular simple present leapfrogs, present participle leapfrogging, simple past and past participle leapfrogged)

leapfrogs (present singular third-person)
leapfrogging (participle present)
leapfrogged (participle past)
leapfrogged (past)

In Jones v Kaney [2010] EWHC 61 (Q.B.) at first instance, the issue was whether the claimant's psychologist in a personal injury claim was negligent because in a joint written statement with the other side's expert, she had resiled from her diagnosis of PTSD without comment or amendment of her report, greatly damaging the claimant's case. The claimant sued in negligence, the judge was constrained by the authorities, but granted a certificate under s. 12 of the Administration of Justice Act 1960 to leapfrog the case to the Supreme Court.

2012, Lord Justice [Rupert] Jackson, editor, Civil Procedure, volume 1, London: Sweet & Maxwell, Thomson Reuters, →ISBN, paragraph 35.12.4, page 1097:

(transitive, chiefly British, law) To appeal or allow to be appealed (a case) directly to a supreme court, bypassing an intermediate appellate court.


testatrix

en-noun

testatrix (plural testatrices or testatrixes)

testatrices (plural)
testatrixes (plural)

From Late Latin testātrīx, feminine of Latin testātor (“one who makes a will”); see testator.


mutatis mutandis

Unadapted borrowing from Late Latin mūtātīs mūtandīs (“with [the things] to be changed having been changed”).

ubor

with 􂀿the things􂁀 to be changed having been changed

And like billes, mutatis mutandis, were put In ayenst Gloucestre & Worcestre

a.''' 1525, The Coventry Leet Book, page 595:

26 May 1564. M. to Mr. Tipton, and another (mutatis mutandis) to Mr. Cuerton. Pp. 3.

1863, H.M.'s Public Record Office, Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series, of the Reign of Elizabeth, volume VII, page 141:

What is said of the army here is to be taken also to apply, mutatis mutandis, to the air force and the navy.

1962, Samuel Edward Finer, chapter 2, in The Man on Horseback: The Role of the Military in Politics:

Similar considerations apply, mutatis mutandis, to the example of nightmare imagined by Brown.

1962, Norman Malcolm, chapter 15, in Dreaming:

(especially law) with the necessary changes being made; with the necessary modifications; with such changes as are necessary to ensure congruence


prisoner

From Middle English prisoner, from Old French prisonier (compare Medieval Latin prisōnārius), equivalent to prison + -er.

The evidence disclosed that the three prisoners were in a public-house together with the prosecutor, Abraham Rhodes, and that in concert with the other two prisoners, the prisoner John Dewhirst placed a pencase on the table in the room where they were assembled, and left the room to get writing-paper.

1861, Edward William Cox, Reports of Cases in Criminal Law:

A person incarcerated in a prison, while on trial or serving a sentence.

And gainſt the General we will lift our ſwords / And either lanch his greedie thirſting throat, / Or take him priſoner, and his chaine ſhall ſerue / For Manackles, till he be ranſom’d home.

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:

Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile ; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.

1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

presu

figurative: any person held against his or her will

I am no longer a prisoner to fear, for I am a child of God.

A person who is or feels confined or trapped by a situation or a set of circumstances.


dungeon

From Middle English dongeoun (“keep of a castle; dungeon; abyss, cave, den; whirlpool”), from Anglo-Norman donjun (“keep of a castle; keep used as a prison; dungeon”) and continental Old French donjon (“keep of a castle”), from Vulgar Latin *dominiōnem, seemingly derived from Latin dominus (“master, lord”) perhaps via some figurative sense like “dominant building”. Doublet of donjon. The sense of “dungeon”, first attested in Anglo-Norman (13th c.) and apparently never in continental Old French, likely developed in combination with Old English dung (“underground prison cell”), whence Middle English donge (“pit, abyss” - senses that are also attested for Middle English dongeoun).
The game term has been popularized by Dungeons & Dragons.

der

“pit, abyss” - senses that are also attested for Middle English <i class="Latn mention" lang="enm">dongeoun</i>

Year after year he lay patiently in a dungeon.

1911, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “Bunyan, John”, in 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica:

An underground prison or vault, typically built underneath a castle.

(obsolete) The main tower of a motte or castle; a keep or donjon.

torre mestra

the main tower of a motte or castle; a keep or donjon

(roleplaying games) An area inhabited by enemies, containing story objectives, treasure, and bosses.

(BDSM) A room dedicated to sadomasochistic sexual activity.


relief

en-noun

relief (countable and uncountable, plural reliefs)

From Old French relief (“assistance”), from Old French relever (“to relieve”), from Latin relevare (“to raise up, make light”). See also relieve.

ease

feeling of removal of stress and discomfort

(law) Court-ordered compensation, aid, or protection, a redress.

korvaus

law: court-ordered compensation, aid, or protection, redress


deceased

From decease + -ed, from Middle English deceas via Old French [Term?], from Latin dēcessus (“departure”), equivalent to dēced-, variation of dēcēdō, dēcēdere (“to go away”).

(law) One who has died. In property law, the alternate term decedent is generally used. In criminal law, "the deceased" refers to the victim of a homicide.


deceased

(law) One who has died. In property law, the alternate term decedent is generally used in US English. In criminal law, “the deceased” refers to the victim of a homicide.


ignoramus

Directly from Latin ignōrāmus (“we do not know”).

/ɪɡnəˈɹeɪməs/

(law, dated) A grand jury's ruling on an indictment when the evidence is determined to be insufficient to send the case to trial.


ignoramus

en-verb

ignoramus (third-person singular simple present ignoramuses, present participle ignoramusing, simple past and past participle ignoramused)

ignoramuses (present singular third-person)
ignoramusing (participle present)
ignoramused (participle past)
ignoramused (past)

/ɪɡnəˈɹeɪməs/

(law, transitive) To make such a ruling against (an indictment).


testator

From Latin testator (“one who makes a will, in Late Latin also one who bears witness”), from testari (“to bear witness, make a will”). See testament.

der

[…] there is an exception “in the cases of heir and executor, who may plead a release to the ancestor or testator whom they respectively represent; so also with respect to several tortfeasors, for in all these cases there is a privity between the parties which constitutes an identity of person”.

1881, Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Common Law:

As it is, knowing that the testator was a gentleman of the highest intelligence and acumen, and that he has absolutely no relations living to whom he could have confided the guardianship of the child, we do not feel justified in taking this course.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

(law) One who makes or has made a legally valid will.


extend

en-verb

extend (third-person singular simple present extends, present participle extending, simple past and past participle extended)

extends (present singular third-person)
extending (participle present)
extended (participle past)
extended (past)

From Middle English extenden, from Anglo-Norman extendre, estendre, from Latin extendō (“I stretch out”).

(UK, law) To value, as lands taken by a writ of extent in satisfaction of a debt; to assign by writ of extent.


surveillance

en-noun

surveillance (countable and uncountable, plural surveillances)

Unadapted borrowing from French surveillance (“a watching over, overseeing, supervision”), from surveiller (“to watch, oversee”), from sur- (“over”) + veiller (“to watch”), from Middle French, from Old French veillier (“to stay awake”), from Latin vigilāre, present active infinitive of vigilō (“I am watchful”). More at vigilant.

ubor

(law) In criminal law, an investigation process by which police gather evidence about crimes, or suspected crime, through continued observation of persons or places.


status

en-noun

status (countable and uncountable, plural statuses or status)

→ Cantonese: status

Northern England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, many accents

Learned borrowing from Latin status. Doublet of state and estate.

(law) The legal condition of a person or thing.

He is a status Indian.

(Canada, usually used to modify another noun) The state (of a Canadian First Nations person) of being registered under the Indian Act.


verdict

From Middle English verdit, from Anglo-Norman verdit (> Medieval Latin veredictum), from veir (“true”) + dit (“saying”); possibly a calque of a Germanic term such as Old English sōþword, sōþsprǣċ, sōþspell, sōþsagu, or sōþcwide, all meaning "true story, statement of truth, account, history". Doublet of veredictum.

The jury returned a “not guilty” verdict.

Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability: […] it is a black spot which all the soaps ever advertised could never wash off.

1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

When his body was retrieved, it was apparent that he had not raised his hands to cover his face. Had he suffered some sort of fit or seizure? The coroner’s verdict was accidental death.

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger’s history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 124:

(law) A decision on an issue of fact in a civil or criminal case or an inquest.


forge

en-verb

forge (third-person singular simple present forges, present participle forging, simple past and past participle forged)

forges (present singular third-person)
forging (participle present)
forged (participle past)
forged (past)

From Middle English forgen, from Anglo-Norman forger and Old French forgier, from Latin fabrico (“to frame, construct, build”).

der

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

He had to forge his ex-wife's signature.  The jury learned the documents had been forged.

To create a forgery of; to make a counterfeit item of; to copy or imitate unlawfully.


coop

Dutch Bantam
Marshall, Texas
Oxford English Dictionary
coop

From Middle English cǒupe, cupe, from Old English cȳpe (“basket, cask”) or possibly from Middle Dutch cûpe (compare modern Dutch kuip, Saterland Frisian kupe, Middle Low German kûpe), from Old Saxon *kûpa, côpa (“cask”) (compare Middle Low German kôpe, Old High German chôfa, chuofa, Middle High German kuofe, modern German Kufe (“cask (feminine)”)), probably from Latin cūpa, Medieval Latin cōpa (“cask”) (thus a doublet of coupe, cup, and keeve). However, the Oxford English Dictionary notes that if the word is from Latin, “it is difficult to account for the umlaut in Old English cýpe”.

'Tis the cruel gripe, / That lean hard-handed poverty inflicts, / The hope of better things, the chance to win, / The wiſh to ſhine, the thirſt to be amus'd, / That at the found of Winter's hoary wing, / Unpeople all our counties, of ſuch herds, / Of flutt'ring, loit'ring, cringing, begging, looſe, / And wanton vagrants, as make London, vaſt / And boundless as it is, a crowded coop.

1785, William Cowper, “The Garden”, in The Task, a Poem, in Six Books. By William Cowper … To which are Added, by the Same Author, An Epistle to Joseph Hill, Esq. Tirocinium, or a Review of Schools, and The History of John Gilpin, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, No. 72 St. Paul's Church-Yard, OCLC 221351486; republished as The Task. A Poem. In Six Books. To which is Added, Tirocinium: or, A Review of Schools, new edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: Printed for Thomas Dobson, bookseller, in Second-street, second door above Chestnut-street, 1787, OCLC 23630717, page 87

Why think to shut up all things in your narrow coop, when we know there are not one or two only, but ten, twenty, a thousand things, and unlike?

1850, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Montaigne; or, the Skeptic”, in Representative Men. Seven Lectures, London: George Routledge & Co., Soho Square, →OCLC, page 94:

Lou Brent rolled from his cot, got to his feet on the floor of the tiny coop.

1929 September, Raoul F[alconia] Whitfield, “The Dog-Fight”, in Boys' Life, volume XIX, number 9, Irving, Tx.: Boy Scouts of America, →ISSN, page 18:

coop. A (gen., from ca. 1880, a country-town) prison: 1785, Sessions Papers of the Old Bailey, Sept., p. 1111, 'He has been in coop for a week'; […]

1968, Eric Partridge, A Dictionary of the Underworld: British and American; being the Vocabularies of Crooks, Criminals, Racketeers, Beggars and Tramps, Convicts, the Commercial Underworld, the Drug Traffic, the White Slave Traffic, Spivs, 3rd edition, rev. and much enl., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, OCLC 311502654; republished as A Dictionary of the Underworld: British and American, Abingdon, Oxon.; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, ISBN 978-1-317-44552-4

(figuratively, slang) A narrow place of confinement, a cage; a jail, a prison.


coop

en-verb

coop (third-person singular simple present coops, present participle cooping, simple past and past participle cooped)

coops (present singular third-person)
cooping (participle present)
cooped (participle past)
cooped (past)

COOPING. The term cooping refers to police officers sleeping on duty. […] One critic of two-man squad cars suggests that this is a recipe for cooping, since one officer can drive while the other sleeps.

2001, Mitchel P. Roth, Historical Dictionary of Law Enforcement, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, →ISBN, pages 76–77:

One of his first, and most groundbreaking, stories was about "cooping," police slang for sleeping on duty. It was sparked when Burnham interviewed Jim Curran, then a New York City policeman, who referred to someone being "in the coop," Burnham recalled. […] Burnham heard that every day thousands upon thousands of New York police supposedly working the night shift were actually sleeping, stashed in coops all over the city, only to be awakened if a crime was discovered. […] Cooping was a natural result and a dramatic example of a city agency misusing its resources.

2010, Bill Kovach, Tom Rosenstiel, Blur: How to Know What's True in the Age of Information Overload, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury USA, →ISBN, page 155:

The majority of policemen, […] act so as to save the public from harm, i.e., they shun their duties. Instead of being up and about, interfering with the rights of the people, many policemen choose the honorable way out—they coop. Cooping (sleeping in some out-of-the-way place while on duty) was a situation which enraged [Frank] Serpico. In the finest tradition of the busybody who insists on running other people's lives, Serpico insisted on being out on the streets at all hours, stopping a prostitute here, ambushing a gambler there, harassing drug merchants everywhere.

2012, Walter Block, Defending the Undefendable: The Pimp, Prostitute, Scab, Slumlord, Libeler, Moneylender, and Other Scapegoats in the Rogue's Gallery of American Society, Baltimore, Md.: Laissez Faire Books, →ISBN:

This cynicism may lead to an increased number of job actions and deviance, such as the "blue flu" or "cooping."

2012, Jeffrey Ian Ross, Policing Issues: Challenges and Controversies, Sudbury, Mass.: Jones & Bartlett Learning, →ISBN, page 66:

Cooping-prone areas are those locations where officers tend to engage in non-police activities that interrupt patrols in an unauthorized manner. A variety of such locations can be surmised, such as spending time at home or other locations not in the officer's area of responsibility while on duty. The department provided the example of officers parking in desolate areas to sleep.

2015, Steven V. Gilbert, Barbara A. Gilbert, Police Corruption in the NYPD: From Knapp to Mollen, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, pages 116–117:

(intransitive, law enforcement, slang) Of a police officer: to sleep or relax while on duty.


kavass

From Ottoman Turkish قواس (kavvas, “guard, sentry”), derived from Arabic قوّاس (qawwās, “archer”), from Arabic قَوْس (qaws, “bow”).


unleaded

From un- + leaded. The US standard of identity comes from 40 CFR §79.32.

standards of identity
standard of identity

(US standards of identity, of gasoline) Containing no more than 0.05 grams of lead per gallon.


aerodrome

→ Irish: aeradróm

* (aircraft): In the obsolete sense of “flying machine” coined by American aviation pioneer Samuel Langley in 1897, from Ancient Greek ἀεροδρόμος (aerodrómos, “traversing the air”).
* (airfield): In the sense of “airfield”, from aero- + -drome, a suffix formed in analogy with hippodrome (“horse racecourse”), from Ancient Greek.

der

(law, Australia, Canada, term of art) Any area of land or water used for aircraft operation, regardless of facilities.


uniform

Borrowed from Middle French uniforme, from Latin uniformis.

Skeletor held the gun against Speedo’s head, held Speedo between himself and the cops who stood, motionless and futile, where they’d stopped. Robinson, Lindfors, Carter, three uniforms and I watched helpless as Skeletor, dragging Speedy with him, inched out the gate, started backing down the hill.

1996, S. J. Rozan, Concourse, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 265:

Four men flew out of it, three uniforms and one in what appeared to be an English riding outfit—boots, whip, the whole nine yards. […] He called out, “I’m the superintendent of police.”

2001, Christine Wiltz, The Last Madam: A Life in the New Orleans Underworld, Da Capo Press, →ISBN, page 113:

Eyes to the front now and there was the body, a lump of black and brown. Moon counted three uniforms and a photographer, the medical examiner and his assistant.

2004, Will Christopher Baer, Penny Dreadful, MacAdam/Cage Publishing, →ISBN, page 81:

(law enforcement) A uniformed police officer (as opposed to a detective).


production

en-noun

production (countable and uncountable, plural productions)

→ Japanese: プロダクション (purodakushon)

/pɹəˈdʌkʃən/

From Middle English produccioun, from Old French production, from Latin prōductiō, prōductiōnem (“a lengthening, prolonging”). See produce.

der

(Scots law, in the plural) Written documents produced in support of the action or defence.


custom

en-noun

custom (countable and uncountable, plural customs)

PIE word
 *ḱóm
 PIE word
 *swé
From Middle English custume, borrowed from Anglo-Norman custume, inherited from Latin consuētūdinem, a noun derived from cōnsuēscō, from con- (“with”) + suēscō (“become used or accustomed to”). Doublet of costume and consuetude.
Adjective form circa 1830.

klandizie

habitual buying of goods from one same vendor

The distinction between custom and usage it that usage is a fact and custom is a law. There can be usage without custom, but not custom without usage.

1888, Francis Wharton, A Commentary on the Law of Evidence in Civil Issues, 3rd edition, volume 2, page 188:

(law) Long-established practice, considered as unwritten law, and resting for authority on long consent. Compare prescription.


instant

From French instant and Middle English instant, both from Old French, from Latin instans (“standing by, being near, present, also urgent, importunate”), present participle of instō (“to stand upon, press upon, urge, pursue, insist”), from in (“on, upon”) + stō (“to stand”); see state.

der

He received just two disciplinary reports prior to committing the instant offense, one in March 2019 for activating an alarm during a non-emergency situation, and one in May 2019 for failing to provide a urine specimen.

December 28, 2019 Attorney Jeffery S. Levin, quoted in The Boston Globe, p. 3


licit

en-adj

licit (comparative more licit, superlative most licit)

more licit (comparative)
most licit (superlative)

From Latin licitus (“lawful”), perfect participle of licet (“[it] is permitted”, impersonal verb).

The contract validly made and consummated is dissolved by death alone. However, the Church must determine what is required for a valid and licit marriage contract.

1913, Joseph Selinger, Catholic Encyclopedia, Moral and Canonical Aspect of Marriage:

(law) Explicitly established or constituted by law.


gloss

From Middle English glosse, glose, from Late Latin glōssa (“obsolete or foreign word requiring explanation”), from Ancient Greek γλῶσσα (glôssa, “language”). Doublet of glossa.

der

This volume is thus not a narrowly defined treatment of the Code of Professional Responsibility but rather represents a "common law" gloss on it.

1979, American Bar Foundation., Annotated code of professional responsibility, page ix:

Judicial Gloss on Test [section title]

2007, Bruce R. Hopkins., The law of tax-exempt organizations., page 76:

(countable, law, US) An interpretation by a court of a specific point within a statute or case law.


lawful

en-adj

lawful (comparative more lawful, superlative most lawful)

more lawful (comparative)
most lawful (superlative)

From Middle English laweful, equivalent to law + -ful, conflated with Middle English leful, leeful, leveful (“according to law, lawful, pertaining to law”). See also leveful.

Lawful money is always a land asset and can only be issued by an actual land jurisdiction government — not a corporation.

The laws are controversial. Forcing someone to work during a lawful strike is a major step. It was always likely to inflame a situation, and so it proved with LNER. ASLEF's counter-tactic came as a five-day walkout, which would have been the longest stoppage for many years had LNER not withdrawn its plan.

2024 February 7, Philip Haigh, “Railway's fragile resilience”, in RAIL, number 1002, page 3:

(law) Conforming to, or recognised by the laws of society.

قانوني

conforming to or recognised by law or rules


without prejudice

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-without prejudice.wav

sitoumuksetta

law: allowing return to earlier position

(law) Without affecting a legal interest.

(law) A term used to allow a statement or proposal in communications, while allowing the party to return to their original position without being impeded by the described statement or proposal.


smuggle

en-verb

smuggle (third-person singular simple present smuggles, present participle smuggling, simple past and past participle smuggled)

smuggles (present singular third-person)
smuggling (participle present)
smuggled (participle past)
smuggled (past)

From earlier smuckle, either from Dutch smokkelen (“to smuggle”), a frequentative form of Middle Dutch smūken (“to act secretly, be sneaky”), or from Dutch Low Saxon or German Low German smuggeln. The Dutch and Low German words are both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *smeuganą (“to creep; slip through or into”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mewk-, *smewg- (“to slip, glide; be slimy”).
cognates and related terms
Cognate with Saterland Frisian smuggelje (“to smuggle”), West Frisian smokkelje (“to smuggle”), German Low German smuggeln, smuckeln (“to move insidiously, smuggle”), German schmuggeln (“to smuggle”), Danish smugle (“to smuggle”), Swedish smuggla (“to smuggle”). Related also to Icelandic smjúga (“to creep, penetrate”), Swedish smyga (“to sneak, slip, crawl, lurk, steal”), German schmiegen (“to nestle, wrap, snuggle”), Old English smēogan, smūgan (“to creep, crawl, move gradually, penetrate”).

cog

(slang) To thrash or be thrashed by a bear's claws, or to swipe at or be swiped at by a person's arms in a bearlike manner.


stillicide

en-noun

stillicide (countable and uncountable, plural stillicides)

(law, historical, uncountable) Synonym of stillicidium


thug

From Hindi ठग (ṭhag, “swindler, fraud, cheat”).
Thuggee was a network of gangs in India from the 17th century to the 19th century who robbed and murdered travellers, often by strangling and beating their victims to death. During British Imperial rule of India, many Indian words passed into common English, and by 1810 thug referred to a member of these Indian gangs. The sense was adopted more generally as "ruffian, cutthroat" by 1839. Related to English thatch, deck.

bor

They call you a land of license—free but to thug and thief.

1915, Cale Young Rice, “My Country”, in Collected Plays and Poems, page 342:

A violent, aggressive, or truculent criminal.


pupil

From Middle English pupille, from Anglo-Norman pupille (“orphan”), from Latin pūpillus (“orphan, minor”), variant of pūpulus (“little boy”), from pūpus (“child, boy”).

(law, obsolete) An orphan who is a minor and under the protection of the state.


R&D

(business) Initialism of Research and Development (a department within a company (or governmental division) dedicated to that task, or the fiscal category that represents it in fiscal reporting.)

Research and Development

(prison) Initialism of Receiving and discharge or receiving and dismissal (a department or office through which inmates arrive at and leave a prison.)


rig

From Early Modern English rygge, probably of North Germanic origin. Compare Norwegian rigge (“to bind up; wrap around; rig; equip”), Swedish dialectal rigga (“to rig a horse”), Faroese rigga (“to rig; to equip and fit; to make s.th. function”). Possibly from Proto-Germanic *rik- (“to bind”), from Proto-Indo-European *rign-, *reyg- (“to bind”); or related to Old English *wrīhan, wrīohan, wrēohan, wrēon (“to bind; wrap up; cover”). See also wry (“to cover; clothe; dress; hide”).

cog

When I saw a special version of Quake running on Voodoo hardware, I knew I would be forking out quite a bit of money on my gaming rig.

2004, Radford Castro, Let Me Play: Stories of Gaming and Emulation, page 104:

(slang, computing) A personal computer, typically one modified for looks.


capitalize

en-verb

capitalize (third-person singular simple present capitalizes, present participle capitalizing, simple past and past participle capitalized)

capitalizes (present singular third-person)
capitalizing (participle present)
capitalized (participle past)
capitalized (past)

From capital + -ize, the first element ultimately from Latin capitālis (“of the head”).

(transitive, accounting, taxation) To treat as capital, not as an expense.


suspect

suspect (third-person singular simple present suspects, present participle suspecting, simple past and past participle suspected)

suspects (present singular third-person)
suspecting (participle present)
suspected (participle past)
suspected (past)

From Old French suspect, from Latin suspectus, perfect passive participle of suspiciō (“mistrust, suspect”), from sub (“under”), + speciō (“watch, look at”).

I suspect him of being the thief.

(transitive) To believe (someone) to be guilty.


trespass

en-noun

trespass (countable and uncountable, plural trespasses)

Borrowed into Middle English trespas, from Old French trespas (“passage; offense against the law”), from trespasser.

der

External infrastructure issues such as severe weather and trespass caused 17.1% of [train] cancellations, [...].

2019 December 18, Andrew Roden, “New measurements reveal improvement in punctuality”, in Rail, page 24:

Network Rail has produced a free downloadable comic highlighting the consequences of railway trespass. Between March 23 and April 26, there were 1,024 trespass incidents on the railway. [...] it is based on the company's award-winning safety film 18, which shows the dangers of trespass, especially around electrified lines.

2020 June 17, “Stop & Examine”, in Rail, page 71:

(law) An intentional interference with another's property or person.


trespass

en-verb

trespass (third-person singular simple present trespasses, present participle trespassing, simple past and past participle trespassed)

trespasses (present singular third-person)
trespassing (participle present)
trespassed (participle past)
trespassed (past)

From Middle English trespassen, borrowed from Old French trespasser (“to go across or over, transgress”), from tres- (“across, over”) + passer (“to pass”).

der

(law) To enter someone else's property illegally.

侵入

legal: to enter someone else's property illegally

The dean trespassed the streaker from his university.

"You were trespassing on private property when you were taking pictures," he said, with no hint of courtesy. "I must trespass you. Come with me."

1996 April 16, Glenn Campbell, “Another Business Office Found”, in The Groom Lake Desert Rat, number 35, Rachel, NV, archived from the original on 1998-02-23:

The entire police force has in effect been trespassed from a Wellington property to stop officers checking whether a heavy-sleeping offender is complying with an overnight bail curfew.

2012 June 21, Greg O'Connor, “Criminal trespasses police officers”, in Stuff:

(transitive) To decree that a person shall be arrested for trespassing if he or she returns to someone else's land.


pone

Inherited from Middle English pone, from Anglo-Norman pone, from Late Latin pone, from Latin pōne, imperative of pōnere (“to place”).

(law, historical) A writ in law used by the superior courts to remove cases from inferior courts.

(law, historical) A writ to enforce appearance in court by attaching goods or requiring securities.


gallery

From Middle English galery, gallerye, from Middle French galerie, gallerie, from Old French galerie, gallerie (“a long portico, a gallery”), from Medieval Latin galeria (“gallery”), perhaps an alteration of galilea (“church porch”), probably from Latin Galilaea, Galilee, region of Palestine. More at Galilee.

Rose and Valerie, screaming from the gallery
Say he must go free

1969, Paul McCartney (lyrics and music), “Maxwell's Silver Hammer”, in Abbey Road, performed by The Beatles:

(law) The part of a courtroom, often elevated and in the rear, where seating for the public audience is facilitated during trial.


in loco parentis

/ɪn ˌləʊkəʊ pəˈɹɛntɪs/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-in loco parentis.wav

Borrowed from Latin in locō parentis (“in place of a parent”).

bor

All persons in loco parentis have a responsibility to care for the child.

(law) Assuming the place or position of a parent.


illegal

en-adj

illegal (comparative more illegal, superlative most illegal)

more illegal (comparative)
most illegal (superlative)

Borrowed from French illégal, from Medieval Latin illegalis, from Latin legalis, by surface analysis, il- + legal. In senses relating to immigration, via clipping from illegal alien or illegal immigrant.

This is illegal, you know!

Nearly 40 million people live in UK areas with illegal air pollution

their illegal mining operations in Asia, Africa and elsewhere, are protected by officials and police paid to look the other way – and powerful customers in the construction industry who prefer not to ask too many questions.

In all times the Princes in England have done ſomething illegal to get Money: But then came a Parliament and all was well, the People and the Prince kiſt and were Friends, and ſo things were quiet for a while.

a. 1654, John Selden, “Money”, in Table-Talk, 3rd edition, London: Jacob Tonson, published 1716, page 74:

Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.

2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:

Contrary to or forbidden by law, especially criminal law.


pertinent

Inherited from Middle English pertinent, borrowed from Old French pertinent and Latin pertinēns, pertinentem.

(law) A right that attaches to land, in Scots law.


favouritism

en-noun

favouritism (countable and uncountable, plural favouritisms)

(British spelling) The unfair favouring of one person or group at the expense of another.


post

en-verb

post (third-person singular simple present posts, present participle posting, simple past and past participle posted)

posts (present singular third-person)
posting (participle present)
posted (participle past)
posted (past)

Chinese: po

Inherited from Old English post (“pillar, door-post”) and Latin postis (“a post, a door-post”) through Old French. .

inh+

to post bail

For example, if the police or court sets bail at $1,000, and a suspect owns a fancy watch worth at least that amount, the defendant may be able to use the watch to post bail.

2022 January 1, Paul Bergman, Sara J. Berman, The Criminal Law Handbook: Know Your Rights, Survive the System, Nolo, →ISBN:

Because wealthy defendants are better positioned to post bail or provide collateral, the American bail system has been criticized as being biased against the poor.

2010 May 18, David Andrew Schultz, Encyclopedia of the United States Constitution, Infobase Publishing, →ISBN, page 45:

Carmen posted a $15,000 bond, and like the other Valenzuelas before her, failed to appear for trial. Morgan's scorecard for case 4: 4.4 pounds seized, 2 Valenzuelas arrested, 1 Valenzuela dismissed, 1 bail jump.

2006 05, Robert Perry, Dirty Money, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 34:

When you post bail, and the case is over, the court system will take 30 percent of that bail which, in this example, will be $3,000 of the original 10 percent that you posted. Hence, you will get $7,000 back.

1996, Lee N. June, Matthew Parker, Men to Men: Perspectives of Sixteen African-American Christian Men, Harper Collins, →ISBN, page 201:

(transitive) To deposit a payment that may or may not be returned.


succession

en-noun

succession (countable and uncountable, plural successions)

Inherited from Middle English [Term?], from Old French succession, from Latin successiō (noun).

An act, process, or instance of succeeding:

(historical) In Roman and Scots law, the taking of property by one person in place of another.


imprison

en-verb

imprison (third-person singular simple present imprisons, present participle imprisoning, simple past and past participle imprisoned)

imprisons (present singular third-person)
imprisoning (participle present)
imprisoned (participle past)
imprisoned (past)

From Middle English imprisonen, emprisounen, emprisonen, from Old French emprisonner.

None of these people has ever had what they really wanted, and if they get a glimmer of it, they back off suspiciously, failures of imagination helping to imprison them further.

1985 December 21, Mara Math, “Fen (review)”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 23, page 15:

[...] demand for the boots fell sharply after the Battle of Waterloo, and Brunel was imprisoned for debt in 1821.

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 87:

(transitive) To put in or as if in prison; confine somebody against their will.


transpose

transpose (third-person singular simple present transposes, present participle transposing, simple past and past participle transposed)

transposes (present singular third-person)
transposing (participle present)
transposed (participle past)
transposed (past)

From Middle English transposen, from Old French transposer, from Latin trānspositus, perfect passive participle of trānspōnō (“to put across”), from trāns (“across”) + pōnō (“to put”).

(transitive, law, chiefly of the European Union) To give force to a directive by passing appropriate implementation measures.

átültet

law: to give force to a directive by passing appropriate implementation measures


bundle

From Middle English bundel, from Middle Dutch bondel or Old English byndele, byndelle (“a binding; tying; fastening with bands”); both from Proto-Germanic *bundil-, derivative of *bundą (“bundle”). Compare also bindle, Dutch bundel, German Bündel.

(law) A court bundle, the assemblage of documentation prepared for, and referred to during, a court case.

aineisto

law: assemblage of documentation for a court case


separation

en-noun

separation (countable and uncountable, plural separations)

/ˌsɛp.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/

/ˌsep.əˈɹæɪ.ʃən/

Attested in the 15th Century C.E.; from Middle English separacioun, from Old French separacion, from Latin separatio, separationem.
Morphologically separate + -ion

I should have gone back to her the day after the fair, if it hadn't been for you talking about the law, and rubbish about getting a separation;

1874, Thomas Hardy, chapter 52, in Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC:

“You are deserting me?”
“Don’t be the neglected, dramatic wife, Scarlett. The rôle isn’t becoming. I take it, then, you do not want a divorce or even a separation? Well, then, I’ll come back often enough to keep gossip down.”

1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter 63, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC:

The act or condition of a married couple living in separate homes while remaining legally married.

(law) An agreement legalizing such an arrangement.

asumisero

(law) an agreement terminating a relationship


animus

animus (usually uncountable, plural animuses)

Learned borrowing from Latin animus (“the mind, in a great variety of meanings: the rational soul in man, intellect, consciousness, will, intention, courage, spirit, sensibility, feeling, passion, pride, vehemence, wrath, etc., the breath, life, soul”), from Proto-Italic *anamos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₁mos, from *h₂enh₁- (“to breathe”). Closely related to Latin anima, which is a feminine form.

lbor

(law) intention, motivation (of a legal person)


9/11 attacks
911 (disambiguation)
Federal Communications Commission
National Emergency Number Association
United States

Chosen by the United States in the 1960s in place of the older British 999 number as a better way to avoid accidental calls from push-button telephones. It is officially pronounced "nine-one-one," not "nine-eleven," since "nine-eleven" refers to the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington. 9/11 is universally distinguished from 911 and usually refers to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Officially written as 9-1-1 in regulations and materials from the United States National Emergency Number Association and Federal Communications Commission, which is also advocated by some media style guides.

I don't know why they couldn't just keep it as it was! How hard is it to remember 911?
You mean 999...
I mean 999!
That's the American one!
Yeah!

2006 Feb. 3, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 2

When you call 911 in the United States, a local dispatcher usually answers the phone with "911" or "911. What's your emergency?"

The telephone number for emergency services in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Liberia, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Anguilla, Palau, and Tonga.

emergency services(Australia) 000(Mongolia) 105(China, Iran) 110(New Zealand) 111(European Union) 112(Japan, South Korea) 119(UK, Ireland) 999


sustain

en-verb

sustain (third-person singular simple present sustains, present participle sustaining, simple past and past participle sustained)

sustains (present singular third-person)
sustaining (participle present)
sustained (participle past)
sustained (past)

From Middle English susteinen, sustenen, from Old French sustenir (French soutenir), from Latin sustineō, sustinēre (“to uphold”), from sub- (“from below, up”) + teneō (“hold”, verb).

(law, of a judge) To allow, accept, or admit (e.g. an objection or motion) as valid.

stattgeben

law: to allow, accept, or admit (e.g. an objection or motion) as valid


WS

en-noun

WS (countable and uncountable, plural WSs)

(law, Scotland) Initialism of writer to the signet.


dissolve

en-verb

dissolve (third-person singular simple present dissolves, present participle dissolving, simple past and past participle dissolved)

dissolves (present singular third-person)
dissolving (participle present)
dissolved (participle past)
dissolved (past)

Recorded since c. 1374 (displacing Old English toliesan) as Middle English dissolven, from Latin dissolvere (“to loosen up, break apart”) but with the sense from Anglo-Norman dissoldre (variant of Old French dissoudre), itself from dis- (“apart”) + solvere (“to loose, loosen”). By surface analysis, dis- + solve.

der

to dissolve an injunction

Jon Snow is the legitimate heir to the Targaryen line, by the old rules, of the old government, which was dissolved and reshaped by King Robert.

2017 August 13, Brandon Nowalk, “Oldtown offers one last game-changing secret as Game Of Thrones goes behind enemy lines (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club:

(law, transitive) To annul; to rescind; to discharge or release.


Warsaw Convention

(law, international law) An international treaty (full title: Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air, Signed at Warsaw on 12 October 1929) signed in Warsaw in 1929, covering international air travel, including such topics as ticketing, cargo and liability.


Geneva Convention

(international law) An international treaty which defines the required treatment for prisoners of war by their captors.

אמנה ג׳נבה

ʾamānā Ǧænævā


homicide

en-noun

homicide (countable and uncountable, plural homicides)

From Old French homicide, from Latin homicīda (“man-slayer”) and homicīdium (“manslaughter”).

(countable, uncountable, crime) The killing of one person by another, whether premeditated or unintentional.


CP

CP (countable and uncountable, plural CPs)

(law enforcement) Initialism of containment perimeter.


consortium

consortium (plural consortia or consortiums)

Learned borrowing from Latin cōnsortium.

(law) The right of a spouse to all the normal relationships with his or her mate.


heads

Until the session of 1782 bills could only (under Poynings’ Law) begin in the Irish privy council. However, informal legislative initiatives, known as ‘heads of bills’, began regularly in the houses of parliament.

2000s "How Irish statutes were made" Queens University Belfast

The Heads of the Bill are being published to enable consultation with relevant sectors on the proposed changes prior to the detailed drafting of the Bill.

2012 Department of Justice and Equality "Government Publishes Proposed Amendments to Anti Money-Laundering Law" Dublin, 6 June 2012

(Ireland, law) The draft scheme of a bill before it is formally introduced to a parliament.


barrister

From bar (a collective term for lawyers or the legal profession) and the suffix -ster.

Postmen, binmen, dock workers, even barristers are now on strike. Where will all this end?

2022 September 7, Philip Haigh, “Comment: More strikes and poor morale”, in RAIL, number 965, page 3:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand) A lawyer with the right to speak and argue as an advocate in higher lawcourts.

адвока́т

lawyer with the right to speak as an advocate in higher lawcourts


standing

standing (countable and uncountable, plural standings)

→ German: Standing

From Middle English standyng, stonding, stondung, from Old English *standung, equivalent to stand + -ing.

to have standing

He may be insulting, a miserable rotter and a fool, but unless he slanders or libels you, or damages your property, you do not have standing to sue him.

Legal experts noted earlier this week that while Epps will have to prove that Carlson’s claims damaged his reputation, he presents a strong argument and therefore likely has standing.

2023 July 12, Erum Salam, “Fox News faces another defamation lawsuit involving Tucker Carlson”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

en:right of a party to bring a legal action

(law) The right of a party to bring a legal action, based on the relationship between that party and the matter to which the action relates.


genocide

genocide (countable and uncountable, plural genocides)

Armenian Genocide
Jewish Holocaust
destruction of Carthage
genocide

Coined by lawyer of Polish-Jewish descent Raphael Lemkin in 1943 or 1944 in reference to the Armenian Genocide and the Jewish Holocaust. From the stem of Ancient Greek γένος (génos, “race, kind”) (cognate with Latin gēns (“tribe, clan”), whence genus) + -cide (“killing, killer”). Doublet of gendercide. Compare genticide.

der

For the German occupying authorities war thus appears to offer the most appropriate occasion for carrying out their policy of genocide.

1944, November, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation, "Analysis of Government - Proposals for Redress", chapter 9, page 79

Shaddam IV: I want fifty legion of Sardaukar on Arrakis at once!
Subordinate: Fifty legions? That's our entire reserves as well.
Shaddam IV: This is genocide: the deliberate and systematic destruction of all life on Arrakis!

1984, 1:49:22 from the start, in Dune (Science Fiction), spoken by Shaddam IV, →OCLC:

Though most of the cases here cover European encounters with non-Europeans, it is not the intention of the book to give the impression that genocide is a function of European colonialism and imperialism alone.

2008 June 1, A. Dirk Moses, “Preface”, in Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation, and Subaltern Resistance in World History, Berghahn Books, →ISBN, page x:

A genocide will always be followed by the denial that it ever happened.

The systematic and deliberate destruction of a group of people, typically by killing substantial numbers of them, on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, or nationality.

(by extension) The systematic killing of substantial numbers of people on other grounds.

ជនឃាត

cĕəʼnĕəʼkhiət

Native Americans in the twentieth century are no longer a "vanishing race" or a silent minority. They have survived centuries of cultural genocide inflicted on them by non-Native Americans— both the well-meaning and the self-seeking— […]

1986, James Stuart Olson, Raymond Wilson, Native Americans in the Twentieth Century, →ISBN:

(by extension) The systematic suppression of ideas or practices on the basis of cultural or ethnic origin; culturicide.

I used genocide in my first ascension, but have been genocideless ever since. Makes the game much more interesting, but then again, if one hasn't ascended yet, it will be interesting anyway.

2000, Kimmo Kasila, “Arch lich at Minetown bones, Help!”, in rec.games.roguelike.nethack (Usenet):

(video games, roguelikes) The elimination of an entire class of monsters by the player.


incapacitate

en-verb

incapacitate (third-person singular simple present incapacitates, present participle incapacitating, simple past and past participle incapacitated)

incapacitates (present singular third-person)
incapacitating (participle present)
incapacitated (participle past)
incapacitated (past)

Mid-17th century, from incapacity + -ate.

令癱瘓

to put out of action, to render ineffective

(law) To make someone ineligible; to disqualify.


distress

en-noun

distress (countable and uncountable, plural distresses)

The verb is from Middle English distressen, from Old French destrecier (“to restrain, constrain, put in straits, afflict, distress”); compare French détresse. Ultimately from Medieval Latin as if *districtiō, an assumed frequentative form of Latin distringō (“to pull asunder, stretch out”), from dis- (“apart”) + stringō (“to draw tight, strain”).
The noun is from Middle English distresse, from Old French destrece, ultimately also from Latin distringō.

der

(law) A seizing of property without legal process to force payment of a debt.

запор

law: a seizing of property without legal process to force payment of a debt

If he were not paid, he would straight go and take a distress of goods and cattle.

1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC:

The distress thus taken must be proportioned to the thing distrained for.

1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:

(law) The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction.