court
pronunciation
How to pronounce court in British English:
UK [kɔːt]
How to pronounce court in American English:
US [kɔːrt]
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- Noun:
- an assembly (including one or more judges) to conduct judicial business
- the sovereign and his advisers who are the governing power of a state
- a specially marked area within which a game is played
- a room in which a law court sits
- a yard wholly or partly surrounded by walls or buildings
- the residence of a sovereign or nobleman
- the family and retinue of a sovereign or prince
- a hotel for motorists; provides direct access from rooms to parking area
- respectful deference
-
- Verb:
- make amorous advances towards
- seek someone's favor
- engage in social activities leading to marriage
Word Origin
- court
- court: [12] Latin cohors designated an ‘enclosed yard’ (it was formed from the prefix com- ‘with’ and an element hort- which also appears in English horticulture). By extension it came to stand for those assembled in such a yard – a crowd of attendants or company of soldiers; hence the meaning of cohort familiar today. But both in its original sense and as ‘retinue’ the word took another and rather more disguised path into English.In late Latin the accusative form cohortem had already become cortem, and this passed into English via Old French cort and Anglo-Norman curt. It retains the underlying notion of ‘area enclosed by walls or buildings’ (now reinforced in the tautological compound courtyard [16]), but it seems that an early association of Old French cort with Latin curia ‘sovereign’s assembly’ and ‘legal tribunal’ has contributed two of the word’s commonest meanings in modern English.The Italian version of the word is corte. From this was derived the verb corteggiare ‘attend court, pay honour’, which produced the noun corteggio, borrowed into English via French as cortège [17]. Other derivatives include courtesy [13], from Old French cortesie (of which curtsey [16] is a specialized use) and courtesan [16], via French courtisane from Italian cortigiana.=> cohort, courtesy, curtsey, horticulture
- court (n.)
- late 12c., from Old French cort (11c., Modern French cour) "king's court, princely residence," from Latin cortem, accusative of cors (earlier cohors) "enclosed yard," and by extension (and perhaps by association with curia "sovereign's assembly"), "those assembled in the yard; company, cohort," from com- "together" (see com-) + stem hort- related to hortus "garden, plot of ground" (see yard (n.1)). Sporting sense is from 1510s, originally of tennis. Legal meaning is from late 13c. (early assemblies for justice were overseen by the sovereign personally).
- court (v.)
- "woo, offer homage," as one does at court, 1570s; see court (n.). Related: Courted; courting.
Example
- 1. The court ruled against mrs qian .
- 2. The row has moved to court .
- 3. The okinawa court cultivated confucian virtues .
- 4. A more likely intervention would be some fiddling with court pace .
- 5. In court mr tenenbaum had admitted to file-sharing around 800 songs .