What is "case"

Case \Case\, n. [F. cas, fr. L. casus, fr. cadere to fall, to happen. Cf. Chance.]

1. Chance; accident; hap; opportunity. [Obs.]

   By aventure, or sort, or cas.
   --Chaucer.

2. That which befalls, comes, or happens; an event; an instance; a circumstance, or all the circumstances; condition; state of things; affair; as, a strange case; a case of injustice; the case of the Indian tribes.

   In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge.
   --Deut. xxiv. 1

3. If the case of the man be so with his wife.
   --Matt. xix. 10.

   And when a lady's in the case You know all other things give place.
   --Gay.

   You think this madness but a common case.
   --Pope.

   I am in case to justle a constable,
   --Shak.

   3. (Med. & Surg.) A patient under treatment; an instance of sickness or injury; as, ten cases of fever; also, the history of a disease or injury.

   A proper remedy in hypochondriacal cases.
   --Arbuthnot.

4. (Law) The matters of fact or conditions involved in a suit, as distinguished from the questions of law; a suit or action at law; a cause.

   Let us consider the reason of the case, for nothing is law that is not reason.
   --Sir John Powell.

   Not one case in the reports of our courts.
   --Steele.

5. (Gram.) One of the forms, or the inflections or changes of form, of a noun, pronoun, or adjective, which indicate its relation to other words, and in the aggregate constitute its declension; the relation which a noun or pronoun sustains to some other word.

   Case is properly a falling off from the nominative or first state of word; the name for which, however, is now, by extension of its signification, applied also to the nominative.
   --J. W. Gibbs.

   Note: Cases other than the nominative are oblique cases. Case endings are terminations by which certain cases are distinguished. In old English, as in Latin, nouns had several cases distinguished by case endings, but in modern English only that of the possessive case is retained.

   Action on the case (Law), according to the old classification (now obsolete), was an action for redress of wrongs or injuries to person or property not specially provided against by law, in which the whole cause of complaint was set out in the writ; -- called also trespass on the case, or simply case.

   All a case, a matter of indifference. [Obs.] ``It is all a case to me.''
   --L'Estrange.

   Case at bar. See under Bar, n.

   Case divinity, casuistry.

   Case lawyer, one versed in the reports of cases rather than in the science of the law.

   Case stated or Case agreed on (Law), a statement in writing of facts agreed on and submitted to the court for a decision of the legal points arising on them.

   A hard case, an abandoned or incorrigible person. [Colloq.]

   In any case, whatever may be the state of affairs; anyhow.

   In case, or In case that, if; supposing that; in the event or contingency; if it should happen that. ``In case we are surprised, keep by me.''
   --W. Irving.

   In good case, in good condition, health, or state of body.

   To put a case, to suppose a hypothetical or illustrative case.

   Syn: Situation, condition, state; circumstances; plight; predicament; occurrence; contingency; accident; event; conjuncture; cause; action; suit.

early 13c., "what befalls one; state of affairs," from Old French cas "an event, happening, situation, quarrel, trial," from Latin casus "a chance, occasion, opportunity; accident, mishap," literally "a falling," from cas-, past participle stem of cadere "to fall, sink, settle down, decline, perish" (used widely: of the setting of heavenly bodies, the fall of Troy, suicides), from PIE root *kad- "to lay out, fall or make fall, yield, break up" (cognates: Sanskrit sad- "to fall down," Armenian chacnum "to fall, become low," perhaps also Middle Irish casar "hail, lightning"). The notion being "that which falls" as "that which happens" (compare befall).\n

\nMeaning "instance, example" is from c.1300. Meaning "actual state of affairs" is from c.1400. Given widespread extended and transferred senses in English in law (16c.), medicine (18c.), etc.; the grammatical sense (late 14c.) was in Latin. U.S. slang meaning "person" is from 1848. In case "in the event" is recorded from mid-14c. Case history is from 1879, originally medical; case study "study of a particular case" is from 1879, originally legal.

"enclose in a case," 1570s, from case (n.2). Related: Cased; casing. Meaning "examine, inspect" (usually prior to robbing) is from 1915, American English slang, perhaps from the notion of giving a place a look on all sides (compare technical case (v.) "cover the outside of a building with a different material," 1707).

"receptacle," early 14c., from Anglo-French and Old North French casse (Old French chasse "case, reliquary;" Modern French châsse), from Latin capsa "box, repository" (especially for books), from capere "to take, hold" (see capable).\n

\nMeaning "outer protective covering" is from late 14c. Also used from 1660s with a sense "frame" (as in staircase, casement). Artillery sense is from 1660s, from case-shot "small projectiles put in cases" (1620s). Its application in the printing trade (first recorded 1580s) to the two trays where compositors keep their types in separate compartments for easy access led to upper-case letter for a capital (1862) and lower-case for small letters.\n\n"The cases, or receptacles, for the type, which are always in pairs, and termed the 'upper' and the 'lower,' are formed of two oblong wooden frames, divided into compartments or boxes of different dimensions, the upper case containing ninety-eight and the lower fifty-four. In the upper case are placed the capital, small capital, and accented letters, also figures, signs for reference to notes &c.; in the lower case the ordinary running letter, points for punctuation, spaces for separating the words, and quadrats for filling up the short lines."

["The Literary Gazette," Jan. 29, 1859]

n. 1 (context computing software English) computer-aided software engineering. 2 (context industry English) coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers.

1. v. look over, usually with the intention to rob; "They men cased the housed"

2. enclose in, or as if in, a case; "my feet were encased in mud" [syn: encase, incase]

1. n. a comprehensive term for any proceeding in a court of law whereby an individual seeks a legal remedy; "the family brought suit against the landlord" [syn: lawsuit, suit, cause, causa]

2. an occurrence of something; "it was a case of bad judgment"; "another instance occurred yesterday"; "but there is always the famous example of the Smiths" [syn: instance, example]

3. a special set of circumstances; "in that event, the first possibility is excluded"; "it may rain in which case the picnic will be canceled" [syn: event]

4. a problem requiring investigation; "Perry Mason solved the case of the missing heir"

5. the actual state of things; "that was not the case"

6. a statement of facts and reasons used to support an argument; "he stated his case clearly"

7. a portable container for carrying several objects; "the musicians left their instrument cases backstage"

8. a person who is subjected to experimental or other observational procedures; someone who is an object of investigation; "the subjects for this investigation were selected randomly"; "the cases that we studied were drawn from two different communities" [syn: subject, guinea pig]

9. a person requiring professional services; "a typical case was the suburban housewife described by a marriage counselor"

10. the quantity contained in a case [syn: caseful]

11. a glass container used to store and display items in a shop or museum or home [syn: display case, showcase]

12. a specific state of mind that is temporary; "a case of the jitters"

13. nouns or pronouns or adjectives (often marked by inflection) related in some way to other words in a sentence [syn: grammatical case]

14. the housing or outer covering of something; "the clock has a walnut case" [syn: shell, casing]

15. a person of a specified kind (usually with many eccentricities); "a real character"; "a strange character"; "a friendly eccentric"; "the capable type"; "a mental case" [syn: character, eccentric, type]

16. an enveloping structure or covering enclosing an animal or plant organ or part [syn: sheath]

17. the enclosing frame around a door or window opening; "the casings had rotted away and had to be replaced" [syn: casing]

18. bed linen consisting of a cover for a pillow; "the burglar carried his loot in a pillowcase" [syn: pillowcase, slip, pillow slip]

Case or CASE may refer to:

Case Woodard, known mononymously as Case, (born October 4, 1975) is a Grammy-nominated American R&B singer-songwriter.

Case is the self-titled debut album by American R&B singer-songwriter Case. It was released on August 13, 1996. It features the hit single "Touch Me, Tease Me" featuring rapper Foxy Brown and Mary J. Blige. The album peaked at number seven on the R&B albums chart and reached number forty-two on the Billboard 200. Mary J. Blige (Case's girlfriend at the time) co-wrote the majority of his debut album.

In policy debate, a case, sometimes known as plan, is a textual advocacy presented by the affirmative team as a normative or "should" statement, generally in the 1AC. A case will often include either the resolution or a rephrasing of it.

The case is the advocacy established by the affirmative in the First affirmative constructive speech, often constructed around the support of a policy recommendation known as the affirmative plan. While the 1AC defines the parameters for the bulk of an affirmative's argument, the term "case" can be used to cover the entirety of the affirmative argument more broadly, referring, for instance, to additional advantages, counter-arguments, or rebuttal evidence that might be introduced in later speeches (if at all).

Case is an English language name, usually a surname but sometimes a given name. The given name may be a diminutive of Casey. The name may refer to:

A case of some merchandise is a collection of items packaged together. In the United States, typically a standard case contains a certain number of items depending on what the merchandise is. For consumer foodstuffs such as canned goods, soda, cereal and such, a case is typically 24 items, however cases may range from 12 to 36, typically in multiples of six. For larger bottles such as gallon jugs, a case is typically 4. The standard case for 32 oz bottles of soda and Powerade contains 15 bottles due to their peculiar shape and size. Cases of video tape are typically packed 10 to a case, and so on. A case of wine is composed of 12 bottles. A case is not a strict unit of measure and can be big enough to accommodate a dram or an hectare and small enough to cover a milligram. Cases are also known for carrying pizzas and barrels (à la Crate & Barrel).