legality

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-der.? Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-der.? Proto-Italic *lēks Latin lex Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Latin lēgālislbor. English legal Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts Latin -itāsder. Old French -itebor. Middle English -ite English -ity English legality From legal + -ity.

1. Lawfulness.

   “Brought from all the recesses of the coast in all the legality of time contracts, lost in uncongenial surroundings, fed on unfamiliar food, they sickened, became inefficient, and were then allowed to crawl away and rest.”

2. A dice game; the same as chuck-a-luck.

   “There was one game in particular called “legality,” in which the managers of the establishment played against all comers. It was a game in which six numbers were marked upon a board, the players staked upon a number, the keeper of the bank threw against the players, and according to whether they were successful or not in the number they backed, they won or lost.”