law

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[edit] English

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[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Etymology 1

From Middle English lawe, laȝe, from Old English lagu (“law”), from Old Norse *lagu, an early plural form of lag, lǫg (“layer, stratum, a laying in order, measure, stroke, law”, literally “something laid down or fixed”), from Proto-Germanic *lagan (“that which is laid down”), from Proto-Indo-European *legh- (“to lie”). Cognate with Icelandic lög (“things laid down, law”), Swedish lag (“law”), Danish lov (“law”). Replaced Old English ǣ and gesetnes. More at lay.

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[edit] Noun

law (countable and uncountable; plural laws)

  1. (uncountable) The body of rules and standards issued by a government, or to be applied by courts and similar authorities.
    By law, one is not allowed to own a wallaby in New York City.
  2. A particular such rule.
    A new law forbids driving on that road.
  3. (more generally) A written or understood rule that concerns behaviours and the appropriate consequences thereof. Laws are usually associated with mores.
    "Do unto others as you wish them to do unto you" is a good law to follow.
  4. (sciences, strictly) A well-established, observed physical characteristic or behavior of nature. The word is used to simply identify "what happens," without implying any explanatory mechanism or causation. Compare to theory.
    Newton's third law of motion states that to every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction. This is one of several laws derived from his general theory expounded in the Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
  5. (mathematics) A statement that is true under specified conditions.
  6. A category of English "common law" petitions that request monetary relief, as opposed to relief in forms other than a monetary judgment; compare to "equity".
  7. (cricket) One of the official rules of cricket as codified by the MCC.
  8. (slang, uncountable) The police.
    Here comes the law — run!
  9. (fantasy) One of the two metaphysical forces of the world in some fantasy settings, as opposed to chaos.
[edit] Derived terms
Derived terms
[edit] Translations
written or understood rule
body of rules from the legislative authority
body of rules and standards to be applied by courts
one-sided contract
observed physical behavior
statement that is true under specified conditions
category of English "common law"
in cricket
slang: the police
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

[edit] See also

[edit] Etymology 2

From Old English hláw "burial mound". Also spelled low.

[edit] Noun

law (plural laws)

  1. (obsolete) a tumulus of stones
  2. (Scottish and northern dialectal, archaic) a hill
    You might climb the Law [...] and behold the face of many counties. (Robert Louis Stevenson Across the Plains, 1892)

[edit] References

Etymology in ODS

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Anagrams

[edit] Lower Sorbian

[edit] Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *lьvъ, from Proto-Indo-European *lewo-.

[edit] Noun

law m.

  1. lion

[edit] Scots

[edit] Noun

law (plural laws)

  1. law
  2. rounded hill (usually conical, frequently isolated or conspicuous)

[edit] Sranan Tongo

[edit] Verb

law

  1. To be crazy
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