Search for: legalism

2421 Etymology dictionary, p. capacity (n.).2

… a legal, moral, or intellectual sense, from Old French capacité "ability to hold" (15c.), from Latin capacitatem (nominative capacitas ) "breadth, capacity, capability …

2422 Etymology dictionary, p. capacitate (v.).2

1650s, "make capable; furnish with legal powers," from Latin capacitas (see capacity ) + -ate (2). Related: Capacitation .

2423 Etymology dictionary, p. caption (n.).3

… of legal documents involving seizure, deposition, etc. ( "Certificate of caption" ). Thus the sense was extended to "the beginning of any document," and further to …

2424 Etymology dictionary, p. carnal (adj.).3

… in legal use by 1680s. Medieval Latin carnalis meant "natural, of the same blood," a sense sometimes found in Middle English carnal .

2425 Etymology dictionary, p. case (n.1).5

… , originally legal; case-law "law as settled by previous court cases" is from 1861.

2426 Etymology dictionary, p. cat-o'-nine-tails (n.).2

"nine pieces of knotted cord fastened to a handle and used to flog the bare back," 1690s, probably so called in reference to its "claws." It was a legal instrument of punishment in British Navy until 1881.

2427 Etymology dictionary, p. cause (n.).3

… "celebrated legal case" is 1763, from French. C ommon cause "a shared object or aim" is by 1620s.

2428 Etymology dictionary, p. caveat (n.).2

… "). The legal meaning "public warning preventing some action" is attested from 1650s.

2429 Etymology dictionary, p. certification (n.).2

… a legal certificate" is from 1881.

2430 Etymology dictionary, p. certorari (n.).2

… case," legal Latin, "to be certified, to be informed or shown," a word figuring in the opening phrase of such writs; passive present infinitive of certorare "to certify …

2431 Etymology dictionary, p. challenge (n.).2

… ," in legal use, "accusation, claim, dispute," from Anglo-French chalengier, Old French chalongier "to accuse, to dispute" (see challenge (v.)). The accusatory connotations …

2432 Etymology dictionary, p. charge (n.).4

The legal sense of "accusation" is late 15c.; earlier "injunction, order" (late 14c.). The meaning "address delivered by a judge to a jury at the close of a trial" is from 1680s. The electrical sense is from 1767.

2433 Etymology dictionary, p. charter (n.).2

… as legal evidence of them," c. 1200, from Old French chartre (12c.) "charter, letter, document, covenant," from Latin chartula / cartula, literally "little paper," diminutive …

2434 Etymology dictionary, p. cheat (v.).2

… ; lapse (legally)," from Late Latin *excadere "fall away, fall out," from Latin ex- "out" (see ex- ) + cadere "to fall" (from PIE root *kad- "to fall").

2435 Etymology dictionary, p. chicanery (n.).2

… . 1610s, "legal quibbling, sophistry, mean or petty tricks," from French chicanerie "trickery," from chicaner "to pettifog, quibble" (15c.), which is of unknown origin …

2436 Etymology dictionary, p. chirography (n.).2

… written legal document" is attested from late 13c. in Anglo-French, from Latin chirographum, from Greek kheirographia "written testimony." Related: Chirographer …

2437 Etymology dictionary, p. choate (adj.).2

… in legal case writing (he said he found choate in a California report), and it is used in a South Carolina Supreme Court case from 1871 (Massey vs. Duren) as the opposite …

2438 Etymology dictionary, p. civil union (n.).2

by 2000, the usual U.S. term for legally recognized same-sex unions short of marriage.

2439 Etymology dictionary, p. clause (n.).2

… a legal document), 12c., from Medieval Latin clausa "conclusion," used in the sense of classical Latin clausula "the end, a closing, termination," also "end of a sentence …

2440 Etymology dictionary, p. clause (n.).3

… . 1300. Legal meaning "distinct condition, stipulation, or proviso" is recorded from late 14c. in English. The sense of "ending" mostly faded from the word between …