court

From Middle English court, from Old French cort, curt, from Latin cōrtem (accusative of cōrs), ultimately from cohors. Doublet of cohort.

 

 

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɔːt/

  • Audio (UK, male voice):

    (file)

  • Audio (UK, male voice):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kɔɹt/

  • Audio (US, female voice):

    (file)

• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ko(ː)ɹt/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /koət/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /koːt/

  • Audio (General Australian, male voice):

    (file)

• Homophone: caught (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger)
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t

court (plural courts)

1. An enclosed space; a courtyard; an uncovered area shut in by the walls of a building, or by different buildings; also, a space opening from a street and nearly surrounded by houses; a blind alley.

   The girls were playing in the court.

   • 1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “The Palace of Art”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza XXX, page 77:

     All round the cool green courts there ran a row / Of cloisters, branched like mighty woods, / Echoing all night to that sonorous flow / Of spouted fountain floods.

   • 1856 February, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Oliver Goldsmith”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC:

     Goldsmith took a garret in a miserable court.

   1. (Australia, US) A street with no outlet, a cul-de-sac.
   2. (Hong Kong, only used in names) A housing estate under the Home Ownership Scheme.
   3. (Hong Kong, only used in names) An apartment building, or a small development of several apartment buildings.
2. (social) Royal society.
   1. The residence of a sovereign, prince, nobleman, or other dignitary; a palace.

      The noblemen visited the queen in her court.

      • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:

        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.

      • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:

        My lord, there is a nobleman of the court at door would speak with you.

      • 1819–1824, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London, (please specify |canto=I to XVII):

        Love rules the court, the camp, the grove.

   3. Any formal assembling of the retinue of a sovereign.
      • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 20, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

        The princesses […] held their court within the fortress.

3. Attention directed to a person in power; behaviour designed to gain favor; politeness of manner; civility towards someone
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     No solace could her paramour entreat / Her once to show, ne court, nor dalliance.

   • 1667 April 28 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 18 April 1667]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC:

     I went to make court to the Duke and Duchess of Newcastle at their house in Clerkenwell.

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, Ed Pilkington, “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?

      • 1985, “Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46)”, in Justice Canada‎^[1], retrieved 1 March 2020:

        536(2.1). ... You have the option to elect to be tried by a provincial court judge without a jury; or you may elect to be tried by a judge without a jury; or you may elect to be tried by a court composed of a judge and jury.

   3. An organization for the administration of law, consisting of a body of judges with a certain jurisdiction along with its administrative apparatus.

      Each province in Canada has three courts: a provincial court, a superior court, and a court of appeals.

   4. (often capitalized) The judge or judges or other judicial officer presiding in a particular matter, particularly as distinguished from the counsel or jury, or both.
      • 2017 May 5, Kevin R. Aalto, “Gordon v. Canada, 2017 FC 454”, in CanLII‎^[2], retrieved 23 February 2020:

        A case conference in person was convened.... To emphasize that it was a Court proceeding the Court was gowned.

      • 2018 August 17, M.F. McParland, “R. v. Carlson, 2018 BCPC 209”, in CanLII‎^[3], retrieved 1 March 2020:

        [5]... defence alleges there is a reasonable apprehension of bias based on the cumulative effect of several issues including the following: (1) The Court was “crying” during the victim impact statement; (2) The Court laughed or “scoffed” when defence stated its sentencing position; ...(6) The Court’s tone, facial expression and demeanor throughout the proceedings...

   5. The session of a judicial assembly.

      The court is now in session.

      • 2023 February 16, WCCO Staff, “Julissa Thaler sentenced to life in prison for murdering 6-year-old son, Eli Hart”, in cbsnews.com‎^[4]:

        On Thursday morning, a Hennepin County judge formally sentenced Julissa Thaler to the life sentence for Eli Hart's murder. […] After court, family said their focus now turns to fundraising a playground in Mound in Eli Hart's honor […]

   6. Any jurisdiction, civil, military, or ecclesiastical.
5. (sports) A place arranged for playing the games of tennis, basketball, handball, badminton, volleyball, squash and some other games

   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.

   1. one of the two divisions of a tennis, badminton or volleyball court, in which the player or players of each team play
      • 2010, Cara Marcus, Faulkner Hospital:

        The photograph at left captures a great serve by Dr. Sadowsky, who will never forget one of Bobby Riggs's serves, which had such a great spin that it landed in his court and bounced back to the other side of the net before he had a chance to return it.

6. (ornithology) A space prepared and decorated by certain bird species in which to advertise themselves for a mate.

   The male Wilson's bird of paradise clears an area of rainforest to create a court in which to perform an elaborate mating dance.

• → Bulgarian: корт (kort)
• → French: court
• → Russian: корт (kort)
  • → Armenian: կորտ (kort)

 

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

1. (transitive) To seek to achieve or win (a prize).

   He was courting big new accounts that previous salesmen had not attempted.

   • 1800, William H[ickling] Prescott, History of The Reign of Philip The Second, King of Spain, volume 3:

     On the contrary, they employed the brief respite that was left them in fortifying one another's courage, and in bearing testimony to the truth in so earnest a manner that they might almost seem to have courted the crown of martyrdom.

   • 1821, Thomas De Quincey, “To the Reader”, in Confessions of an English Opium-Eater:

     Guilt and misery shrink, by a natural instinct, from public notice: they court privacy and solitude: and even in their choice of a grave will sometimes sequester themselves from the general population of the churchyard […]

2. (transitive) To risk (a consequence, usually negative).

   She courted controversy with her frank speeches.

   • 1964 April, “Automatic Signalling Problems in an Emergency”, in Modern Railways, page 273:

     It is not unknown for hot axleboxes to fail completely and for wagons to become derailed as a result. Surely it is courting disaster to allow a train to proceed for up to seven miles with a defective vehicle before it can be brought to a halt?

3. (transitive) To try to win a commitment to marry from.
   • c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, act 1, scene 1:

     If either of you both love Katharina […] / Leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure.

4. (transitive) To engage in behavior conducive to mating with.

   The bird was courting a potential mate by performing an elaborate dance.

   • 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 24, in The History of England: From the Accession of James II, volume 5:

     By one person, however, Portland was still assiduously courted, and that person was the king.

5. (transitive) To attempt to attract; to invite by attractions; to allure.

   Synonyms: charm, entrance; see also Thesaurus:allure

   • a. 1835, Alfred Lord Tennyson, The Gardener's Daughter:

     […] a well-worn pathway courted us / To one green wicket in a privet hedge […]

   • 1902, Robert Marshall Grade, The Haunted Major:

     It is a grim, grey old town, standing on bleak, precipitous cliffs that court every passing hurricane, […]

6. (transitive) To attempt to gain alliance with.
7. (intransitive) To engage in activities intended to win affections.

   Synonyms: romance, solicit; see also Thesaurus:woo

   She's had a few beaus come courting.

8. (intransitive) To engage in courtship behavior.

   At this time of year, you can see many animals courting.

 

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Court (disambiguation)

Wikipedia

•   court on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Crout, Curto, Turco, Turco-, crout

• IPA^(key): /kuʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: cour, coure, courent, coures, courre, cours, courts
• Rhymes: -uʁ

Inherited from Old French curt, from Latin curtus.

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

1. short

• accourcir
• écourter

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

court

1. third-person singular present indicative of courir

Borrowed from English court.

court m (plural courts)

1. (tennis) court

• fond de court

• “court”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• cort, corte, cortt, courte, curt, curth

Borrowed from Old French cort, curt, from Latin cōrs, contraction of cohors, cohortem.

• IPA^(key): /kuːrt/

court (plural courtes)

1. A courtyard; an enclosed space.
2. A grand residence, especially that of a ruler or noble.
3. The household or retinue of a ruler; a ruler's court.
4. A (royal) assembly; a deliberative body.
5. A court of law; the body which administers justice:
   1. A court building; the place where justice is administered.
   2. A session of a judicial assembly.
   3. (rare) A legal action.

• courteour
• curteis
• curtylage

• English: court (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: court, coort

• “cǒurt, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Old French cort, curt, etc.

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

• French: cour

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (court, supplement)

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

court m

1. (Jersey) short

• courtément (adverb)

From Old French curt, from Latin curtus.

• IPA^(key): /kuːʀ/

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

1. short