court

See also: Court

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French cort, curt, from Latin cortem (accusative of cors), ultimately from cohors. Doublet of cohort.

A court (def. 4.2) assembled to hear the testimony of Charles Lindbergh. The room is also a court (def. 4.1).
Professional tennis players playing on a tennis court (def. 5) in New Delhi, India

Pronunciation

Noun

court (plural courts)

  1. An enclosed space; a courtyard; an uncovered area shut in by the walls of a building, or by different building; also, a space opening from a street and nearly surrounded by houses; a blind alley.
    The girls were playing in the court.
    • Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)
      And round the cool green courts there ran a row / Of cloisters.
    • Thomas Macaulay (1800-1859)
      Goldsmith took a garret in a miserable court.
    1. (US, Australia) A street with no outlet, a cul-de-sac.
  2. (social) Royal society.
    1. The residence of a sovereign, prince, nobleman, or ether dignitary; a palace.
      The noblemen visited the queen in her court.
      • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
        This our court, infected with their manners, / Shows like a riotous inn.
    2. The collective body of persons composing the retinue of a sovereign or person high in authority; all the surroundings of a sovereign in his regal state.
      The queen and her court traveled to the city to welcome back the soldiers.
      • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
        My lord, there is a nobleman of the court at door would speak with you.
      • Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)
        Love rules the court, the camp, the grove.
    3. Any formal assembling of the retinue of a sovereign.
      • Thomas Macaulay (1800-1859)
        The princesses held their court within the fortress.
  3. Attention directed to a person in power; conduct or address designed to gain favor; courtliness of manners; civility; compliment; flattery.
    • Edmund Spenser (c.1552–1599)
      No solace could her paramour entreat / Her once to show, ne court, nor dalliance.
    • John Evelyn (1620-1706)
      I went to make my court to the Duke and Duchess of Newcastle.
  4. (law) The administration of law.
    1. The hall, chamber, or place, where justice is administered.
      Many famous criminals have been put on trial in this court.
    2. The persons officially assembled under authority of law, at the appropriate time and place, for the administration of justice; an official assembly, legally met together for the transaction of judicial business; a judge or judges sitting for the hearing or trial of cases.
      The court started proceedings at 11 o'clock.
      • 2012 August 21, Pilkington, Ed, “Death penalty on trial: should Reggie Clemons live or die?”, in The Guardian:
        Next month, Clemons will be brought before a court presided over by a "special master", who will review the case one last time. The hearing will be unprecedented in its remit, but at its core will be a simple issue: should Reggie Clemons live or die?
    3. A tribunal established for the administration of justice.
    4. The judge or judges; as distinguished from the counsel or jury, or both.
    5. The session of a judicial assembly.
      The court is now in session.
    6. Any jurisdiction, civil, military, or ecclesiastical.
  5. (sports) A place arranged for playing the games of tennis, basketball, squash, badminton, volleyball and some other games; also, one of the divisions of a tennis court.
    The local sports club has six tennis courts and two squash courts.
    The shuttlecock landed outside the court.
    • 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 5, in Death on the Centre Court:
      By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.

Derived terms

Translations

collective body of persons composing the retinue of a sovereign or person high in authority
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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
A man courting a woman by giving her flowers, in a 14th century work

Verb

court (third-person singular simple present courts, present participle courting, simple past and past participle courted)

  1. (transitive) To seek to achieve or win.
    He was courting big new accounts that previous salesman had not attempted.
    • Prescott
      They might almost seem to have courted the crown of martyrdom.
    • De Quincey
      Guilt and misery […] court privacy and solitude.
  2. (transitive) To risk (a consequence, usually negative).
    He courted controversy with his frank speeches.
  3. (transitive) To try to win a commitment to marry from.
    • Shakespeare
      If either of you both love Katharina […] / Leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure.
  4. (transitive) To engage in behavior leading to mating.
    The bird was courting by making an elaborate dance.
  5. (transitive) To attempt to attract.
    • Macaulay
      By one person, hovever, Portland was still assiduously courted.
  6. (transitive) To attempt to gain alliance with.
  7. (intransitive) To engage in activities intended to win someone's affections.
    She's had a few beaus come courting.
  8. (intransitive) To engage in courtship behavior.
    In this season, you can see many animals courting.
  9. (transitive) To invite by attractions; to allure; to attract.
    • Tennyson
      A well-worn pathway courted us / To one green wicket in a privet hedge.

Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

French

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Old French curt, from Latin curtus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-.

Adjective

court (feminine singular courte, masculine plural courts, feminine plural courtes)

  1. short

Etymology 2

See etymology on the main entry.

Verb

court

  1. third-person singular present indicative of courir

Etymology 3

Borrowed from English court.

Noun

court m (plural courts)

  1. (tennis) court

Further reading

Middle English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French cort, curt.

Noun

court (plural courts)

  1. court (place, building)

Descendants

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French cort, curt, etc.

Noun

court f (plural cours)

  1. court (of law)
  2. court (of a palace, etc.)
    • 1488, Jean Dupré, Lancelot du Lac:
      quant il les eut faictes si les scella & les bailla a la damoiselle pour porter l'andemain a court
      when he had written them [the letters] he then sealed them and entrusted them to the lady to take them tomorrow to the court

Descendants

References

  • Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (court, supplement)

Norman

Etymology

From Old French curt, from Latin curtus (“shortened, short”).

Adjective

court m

  1. (Jersey) short

Derived terms

Walloon

Etymology

From Old French curt, from Latin curtus.

Adjective

court m (feminine singular courte, masculine plural courts, feminine plural courtes)

  1. short
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