law
noun
- system of rules and guidelines, generally backed by governmental authority
- universal principle that describes the fundamental nature of something, the universal properties and the relationships between things, or a description that purports to explain these principles and relationships
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /lɔː/ / /laː/ / /loː/
intj
Etymology: Compare la and Lawd.
- An exclamation of mild surprise; lawks; in interjections, a minced oath for Lord.
“‘Do tell me once for all, whether you intend to marry Mr Watts or not?’ ‘Law Mama, how can I tell you what I don't know myself?’”
“[…] and my boots were a leetle 'eavier than they are, law bless my soul! I'd do it myself.”
name
Etymology: From Cantonese 羅 /罗 (lo⁴). Doublet of Luo and Lo.
- A surname from Chinese.
noun
Etymology: From Middle English lagh, from Old Norse lag (“that which is lying or laid, position, price, way, sting, blow”), from Proto-Germanic *lagą (“that which is laid”). Cognate with Scots lauch (“one's tavern-reckoning or one's share of the cost, a score; a payment for drink or entertainment”), Middle English lai (“one's share of expenses, one's bill or account”).
- A score; share of expense; legal charge.
verb
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *lagą Old Norse lag Old Norse lǫgbor. Old English lagu Middle English lawe English law From Middle English lawe, laȝe, from Old English lagu (“law”), borrowed from Old Norse lǫg (“law”, literally “things laid down or firmly established”), originally the plural of lag (“layer, stratum, a laying in order, measure, stroke”), from Proto-Germanic *lagą (“that which is laid down”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”). Cognate with Scots law (“law”), Icelandic lög (“things laid down, law”), Faroese lóg (“law”), Norwegian lov (“law”), Swedish lag (“law”), Danish lov (“law”), Finnish laki (“law”). Compare typologically distant cognate Russian уложе́ние (uložénije). Displaced native Old English ǣ and ġesetnes. More at lay. Not related to legal, nor to French loi, Spanish ley, all of which ultimately derive from Latin lēx, from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to gather”).
- To work as a lawyer; to practice law.
“That was in 1877 you were lawing with Herdick?”
“J. H. Turner is married and lawing in Milwaukee.”
- To prosecute or sue (someone), to litigate.
“Your husband's … so given to lawing, they say. I doubt he'll leave you poorly off when he dies.”
“"I like folks to be up and down and square," she began saying, as she vigilantly watched the effect of her culinary skill upon the awed little party. "Yes, I've got a regular hotel license; you bet I have. There's been folks lawed in this town for sellin' a meal of victuals and not having one."”
- To rule over (with a certain effect) by law; to govern.
“At its 1933 session, the Kansas legislature provided for funding outstanding bills and floating debts of those cities which could not make payment by a fixed date. By this stroke of its imagination, the legislature lawed all Kansas cities onto a "cash" basis and admonished them to stay there.”
“Earth lies in the chorus of the stars' congregation in the lawed line of their movement, in the balanced rotation of their light, bound by that lawed line, conceived in the focus of that turning; a vessel fashioned on the wheel of endless time.”
- To enforce the law.
“De gram jury lawed me all de time an' dat place got too hot.”
“The only time I ever got lawed [arrested] was for the union. Happened three times.”
- To subject to legal restrictions.
“Insurance may fairly be said to head the list of objects of legislative interference. It has been lawed and lawed until it is nearly outlawed, and the cry for more continues to go up unsatisfied”
“No man knew what his water rights were until they had been lawed over, and lawed over, and lawed over again.”