lawfuladj.
/ˈlɔːf(ᵿ)l/, U.S. /ˈlɔfəl/, /ˈlɑfəl/ 1. † b. Permissible; allowable, justifiable. Obsolete.† c. Of a disease: ? Normal. Obsolete.
a. According or not contrary to law, permitted by law. Frequent in predicative use.
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society > law > rule of law > [adjective] > in accordance with the law
lawlya1250
leefulc1275
leal1352
lawfula1398
leesome?a1400
lisiblea1420
legitimec1450
legitimatea1460
coursable1478
licit1483
legal1671
above boarda1695
enabled1729
legit1907
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvii. xlviii. 941 Som trowed þat þis tree..hadde þerfore worschipe in triumphes and victory; and it was nought laweful vse noþer in vnhoneste [emended in ed. to it was nought laweful to defoule þe laury tree in vnlawful vse noþer in vnhoneste].
c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 289/2 Lawfulle, legitimus.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) John v. f. cxxvv It is the saboth daye, it is nott laufull for the to cary thy beed.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Ezek. xxxiii. 16 In so moch as he doth now the thinge that is lawfull and right, he shall lyue.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. ccl It is lawfull for all men, to saue them selues from violence.
1590 H. Swinburne Briefe Treat. Test. & Willes i. f. 11 By this word lawfull is excluded..whatsoeuer is contrary to iustice, pietie, or equity.
1665 T. Manley tr. H. Grotius De Rebus Belgicis 739 Upon debate of the matter in the great Council of the Kingdome, and in a lawful manner.
1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 10 Apr. (1965) I. 398 He..inquir'd..whether it was Lawfull to permit it.
1796 H. Hunter tr. J.-H. B. de Saint-Pierre Stud. Nature (1799) III. 642 I shall not examine whether that possession be lawful.
1817 W. Selwyn Abridgem. Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 922 It shall be lawful for the jury..to find a verdict for the plaintiff.
1835 I. Taylor Spiritual Despotism vi. 249 Constantine's establishment of Christianity..declaring it to be a..Lawful Religion.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. v. 567 A lawful military operation.
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society > authority > lack of subjection > permission > [adjective] > that can be permitted
sufferablea1395
admittable?1406
allowable1445
permissiblea1475
congeable1528
tolerable1531
lowable1538
grantable1548
permittable?1575
venial1597
lawful1600
admissible1611
1600 W. Shakespeare Henry V iv. viii. 117 Is it lawful, and it please your Maiestie, To tell how many is kild?
1717 tr. A. F. Frézier Voy. South-Sea 69 It seems lawful to believe, that, among the Children of our common Parent, God has formed three Sorts of Colours in the Flesh of Men.
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1583 P. Barrough Methode of Phisicke v. xxi. 247 Foure perticular orders to be kept in curing a lawfull œdema.
2. † b. elliptical. = lawful money, weight. Obsolete.
a. Appointed, sanctioned, or recognized by law; legally qualified or entitled. Now chiefly in certain traditional collocations, as lawful heir, lawful king, lawful money, lawful parliament, lawful sovereign, lawful succession, lawful title; also, lawful captive, lawful prey, lawful prize, (to be) lawful game.
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society > law > legal right > [adjective]
righteOE
kindc1300
rightfulc1330
truec1384
righteous1391
lawfula1400
just?1435
legitimec1450
legitimatea1460
verya1466
justc1540
reable1581
sib1701
competent1765
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 26903 Noght allan for his ald plight..Or for þas oþer the quilk he bette Bot noght wit penance laghful sett.
1439 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 122 xx markes of laufull money.
c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 98 Forȝeue þi lawefull accyoun, & seke ferst loue.
1456 Extracts Rec. in W. Chambers Charters Burgh Peebles (1872) 111 Geyf thar was ony lachful ar to that land.
1526 Galway Arch. in 10th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1885) App. v. 402 No carpenter nor masson shall have no workeman but that which shallbe laufull workeman in that sience [sic].
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) III. 393 His eldest sone..to his place suld succeid As lauchtfull air.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. xxv Lawfull succession.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. ccxliij Yf they haue any lawful impediment.
1562 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1888) I. 2 Thre Questionis, tweching the lauchful vocatioun of Iohne Knox.
1571 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xxvi. 118 He being Crownit in lauchfull Parliament.
1581 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xliv. 101 That lauchfull pastors of the Kirk sould be depryuit.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) i. ii. 51 If it proue lawfull prize, hee's made for euer. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) ii. i. 95 Thou hast vnder-wrought his lawfull King. View more context for this quotation
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxviii. 165 A Banished man, is a lawfull enemy of the Common-wealth.
1763 Rec. Colony Rhode Island (1861) VI. 359 All mortgages, bonds, [etc.]..wherein the payment of money is..promised, shall be taken and understood to mean lawful money.
1766 J. Fordyce Serm. Young Women I. iii. 108 They will consider her as lawful game.
1768 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. III. 69 Prize vessels..condemned in any courts of admiralty or vice-admiralty as lawful prize.
1806 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. VI. 257 So that my executrix shall pay in good time all lawful debts.
1817 W. Selwyn Abridgem. Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 854 Having no lawful impediment.
1871 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1876) IV. xvii. 54 Himself in his own reading of the law, a lawful King.
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society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > [noun] > coins and notes > kind of money > current or legal
lawful1533
going1591
pass-gilt1657
real money1675
legal tender?1730
legal tender1740
1533 in E. Hobhouse Church-wardens' Accts. (1890) 40 For to delyver the sayd x scheppe so good as they ware or ells xiijs. iiijd. in good and lawfoll.
1778 A. Adams in J. Adams & A. Adams Familiar Lett. (1876) 343 It takes..fifty pounds lawful for a hundred of sugar, and fifty dollars for a hundred of flour.
c. Of a marriage: Such as the law permits; and regards as valid. Of offspring: Born in lawful wedlock, legitimate.
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society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > a marriage > [adjective] > lawful or valid
ratec1460
lawfulc1480
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > child > relationship to parent > [adjective] > legitimate
full-bornlOE
born in (or under or out of) wedlockc1275
kindlya1300
mulierc1400
legitimatea1464
mulieryc1475
lawfulc1480
naturala1500
mulierly1506
lawfully1512
native1567
loyal1608
lineala1616
full-begotten1636
(on) the right side of the blanket1842
c1480 (a1400) St. Margaret 163 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 51 I wes borne þis towne within, In lauchful bed of folk mychtty.
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid iii. v. 23 Helenus, The lachfull sone of the king Priamus.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Richard III f. xlix Makyng much suite to haue her ioyned with him in lawfull matrimony.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. xxxvv The same..ought nowe to be euery where receiued for lawfull wiues.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. ccccxxiiij Moste men doubted of the lawful birth of his syster.
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) iii. iii. 64 Truly she must be giuen, or the marriage is not lawfull . View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) iii. xiii. 107 Haue I..Forborne the getting of a lawfull Race. View more context for this quotation
a1657 W. Mure Hist. Rowallane in Wks. (1898) II. 249 The great Stewart..invited home againe Elizabeth Mure to his Lawfull bed.
a1699 A. Halkett Autobiogr. (1875) 1 Constant to the only lawfull embraces of the Queen.
1827 T. Jarman Powell's Ess. Learning of Devises (ed. 3) II. 247 In case M. B. should die..without leaving lawful issue of her body.
1885 Law Rep.: Chancery Div. 29 270 Had been the lawful wife of the testator, and Adelinda his legitimate daughter by her.
d. lawful age, lawful years: the age at which a person attains his legal majority; also, the age at which a person becomes legally competent to perform some act or to hold some office. lawful day: one in which it is lawful to transact business, or some particular kind of business.
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the world > people > person > adult > [noun] > adulthood or maturity > legal maturity
agec1275
elda1300
age of discretion1395
years of discretiona1402
discretionc1485
lawful years1548
age of consent1809
the age of reason1884
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry V f. lxxxv Til my sonne come to his lawful age.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. ccccxxiiij He him selfe was of lawefull yeres.
1708 Royal Proclam. 11 July in London Gaz. No. 4456/1 Upon the Tenth Day of October next to come,..if the same be a Lawful Day.
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society > law > rule of law > [adjective] > law-abiding
lawfulc1430
legitime1677
legal1756
law-abiding1839
crimeless1887
straight1977
society > morality > duty or obligation > recognition of duty > [adjective]
lawfulc1430
dutiful1552
duteous1594
pious1614
c1430 Hymns Virg. 113 Ech man þat..loueþ a lawful lijf to lede.
c1480 (a1400) St. Paul 218 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 35 For I am cristis lauchtful knycht.
1483 W. Caxton tr. Caton G iv b It is the souerayn gyfte of god for to haue a good and lawful wyf.
1572 (a1500) Taill of Rauf Coilȝear (1882) 510 Bot as ane lauch-full man, my laidis to leid.
1575 J. Rolland Treat. Court Venus i. f. 11v Lufe is tressonable: Nocht lauchfull, bot scho is lamentable.
1642 J. March Argument Militia 4 Every lawfull Subject is taken to be within the protection of the King.
1890 M. C. Fraser Let. Nov. in Diplomatist's Wife Japan (1899) II. xxviii. 143 The Japanese are a profoundly lawful people (if I may use the word in its old sense).
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society > law > [adjective]
lawfula1387
legalc1484
juridic1553
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 35 Lawefulman in þe peple [L. politici in populo].
1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 722 In matters lawfull to depend vpon the pleasure and direction of the Archbishop.
a. quasi-n. Obsolete.
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1502 tr. Ordynarye of Crysten Men (de Worde) ii. vi. sig. k.iii In kepynge fayth, trouth, & lawfull for the loue of god pryncypally.
b. quasi-adv. Obsolete.
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1656 H. Phillippes Purchasers Pattern (1676) 2 That th' Seller be so old, That he may lawfull sell, thou lawful hold.
c. as an exclamation. Obsolete.
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1787 F. Grose Provinc. Gloss. Lawful, Oh lawful case, an interjection, Derb.
1896 W. W. Skeat & T. Hallam Pegge's Two Coll. Derbicisms s.v. Ah lawful, and ah lawful case! exclamations.
6. Describable or governed by laws of nature.
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the world > matter > physics > [adjective] > in accordance with laws of nature
lawful1939
1939 Nature 14 Jan. 64/1 Newton and others have found confirmation even for their religious beliefs in the lawful character of physical phenomena.
1958 J. M. Argyle Relig. Behaviour i. 2 It is commonly assumed that human behaviour is lawful and that it can be predicted by means of psychological laws and explained in terms of psychological processes.
1959 M. Bunge Causality i. 22 The principle of universal lawfulness..may be taken to read thus: Every single event is lawful, i.e., is determined in accordance with a set of objective laws—whether we know the laws or not.
1975 Nature 3 Apr. 416/2 The results show that the tendency..can be brought under lawful control in such a way as to discriminate against the above hypotheses.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1902; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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