lawyern.
/ˈlɔɪə/, /ˈlɔːjə/, U.S. /ˈlɔɪər/, /ˈlɔjər/, /ˈlɑjər/ 1. Proverb.1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique 20 b The lawyer never dieth a begger. The lawyer can never want a livyng till the yearth want men.† c. Scottish. ‘A professor of law’ (Jamieson). ? Obsolete.
a. One versed in the law; a member of the legal profession, one whose business it is to conduct suits in the courts, or to advise clients, in the widest sense embracing every branch of the profession, though in colloquial use often limited to attorneys and solicitors.high lawyer: see the first element.
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society > law > legal profession > lawyer > [noun]
lawyer1377
man of lawc1405
practiserc1450
jurist1481
lawman1535
practitioner1576
man of the long coat1579
(a gentleman) toward the law1592
gownsman1627
law-driver1640
long-robe man1654
green bag1699
flycatcher1708
homme d'affaires1717
jet1728
law-solicitor1738
shark1806
blue bag1817
law-person1819
law-gentleman1837
maître1883
lip1929
1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. vii. 59 Ȝe legistres and lawyeres Holdeth this for treuthe.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1871) III. 275 Anoþer Socrates was of Grees, a greet philosofer and lawiere [Higden orator].
1413 Pilgr. Sowle (1483) iii. iv. 53 Ye aduocates ye laweours and maynteners of wrong.
1543 R. Grafton Contin. f. cxl, in Chron. J. Hardyng He had of his counsaill..sir Charles Booth a lawer, then bishop of Herforde.
1556 W. Lauder Compend. Tractate Dewtie of Kyngis sig. Cv Sum Solistars, now thir dayis Vincusis Laweris, in thare cause.
1592 R. Greene Quip for Vpstart Courtier sig. E Then the lawier was a simple man, and in the highest degree was but a bare scriuener.
1611 Bible (King James) Matt. xxii. 35 Then one of them, which was a Lawyer, asked him a question. View more context for this quotation
1637 T. Nabbes Microcosmus v. G i b Bless me! who's this? one of the divells she lawyers?
1688 T. Shadwell Squire of Alsatia ii. i. 29 A modest learned Lawyer, of little Practice, for want of Impudence.
1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 480. ⁋7 I am now clerk to a lawier.
1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. 32 A lawyer thus educated to the bar.
1780 W. Cowper Rep. Adjudged Case 25 Then shifting his side, as a lawyer knows how.
a1832 A. Polson Eng. Law in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) II. 819/1 Text-books, written by eminent lawyers, have..an authority in Westminster Hall.
b. In modern versions of the New Testament: An expounder of the Mosaic law.
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society > faith > aspects of faith > Bible, Scripture > Testament > Old Testament > [noun] > Mosaic dispensation > expounder of
lawyer1526
law-worker1577
legalist1630
law-preacher1645
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Luke x. 25 A Certayne Lawere [Gk. νομικός, L. legisperitus; Wyclif ‘a wise man of the lawe’] stode vp and tempted hym.
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society > law > jurisprudence > [noun] > legal knowledge or skill > one learned in the law
legisterc1300
man of lawc1390
doctorc1400
legist?c1425
jurisconsultorc1550
lawyer?1566
Bartolist1602
jurisconsult1605
jurista1626
jurisprudent1628
legalist1771
jurisprudist1793
jurisprudentialist1827
?1566–7 G. Buchanan Opinion Reformation Univ. St. Andros in Vernacular Writings (1892) 15 The lawar sal reid dayly an hore in law.
?1566–7 G. Buchanan Opinion Reformation Univ. St. Andros in Vernacular Writings (1892) 14 The College of Diuinite. Personis. Ane Principal to be Reidar in Hebrew. Ane Lawer.
1579 Acts Parl. Scotl. (1814) III. 180/2 That the lawer..of befoir in the new college sall [etc.].
a. A lawgiver. Obsolete.
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society > faith > aspects of faith > law > [noun] > giver of
lawyer1534
Halachist1857
1534 T. More Treat. Passion in Wks. 1294/1 Theyr olde lawyer Moises.
b. A lawmaker. Obsolete.
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society > law > legislation > legislator > [noun]
lawmakerc1380
lawgivera1382
law-bearer1483
legislatora1513
conditora1533
law-setter?1573
law-writer1580
nomothete1586
legifer1602
enactor1609
Numa1614
lawyera1647
nomographer1656
law-framer1876
Solon1903
a1647 New Litany in J. Maidment Bk. Sc. Pasquils (1868) 53 From cobling acts of Parliament Against the Lawers intent.
3. dialect. A long bramble. Also in New Zealand, etc., applied to certain creeping plants.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > thorny berry-bush > [noun] > bramble or blackberry bush
bramblec1000
bramble-brierc1000
bremberOE
brierc1000
hound's thornc1420
bramec1425
blackberry?1550
bramble-bush1579
stone bramble1744
raunce1840
bush-lawyer1853
lawyer1857
1857 C. Reade Course True Love 52 We call these long briars lawyers.
1863 C. Kingsley Water-babies i. 34 The lawyers tripped him up, and tore his shins as if they had sharks' teeth.
1875 W. D. Parish Dict. Sussex Dial. Lawyer, a long bramble full of thorns, so called because ‘when once they gets a holt an ye, ye doant easy get shut of 'em’.
1889 H. H. Romilly Verandah in New Guinea 56 Tearing the vines and lawyers with their teeth.
4. Penang lawyer: a kind of walking-stick, made from the stem of a dwarf palm ( Licuala acutifolia, Griffith), a native of Penang and Singapore. In England often misapplied to the Malacca cane.Apparently with jocular reference to the use of the weapon in settling disputes at Penang. It has been suggested that the name may be a corruption of Malay pinang líyar, wild areca, or pinang láyor fire-dried areca. The dwarf palm has prickly stalks, so that the notion may be the same as in sense 3 and in lawyer-palm n. at Compounds 4.
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the world > space > relative position > support > [noun] > that which supports > something to lean on > staff to lean on > other types of walking stick
pikeOE
bourdona1300
pickc1330
pickstaff1356
pikestaff?a1500
gribble1578
supplejack1748
crutch-stick1780
spear-stick1801
kebbie1816
Penang lawyer1827
alpenstock1829
thumb-stick1945
1827 P. Cunningham Two Years New S. Wales II. xxii. 73 With a Penang lawyer hugged close under his right arm.
1894 A. Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes 10 His stick, which was a Penang lawyer, weighted with lead.
5. Zoology. The name given locally in America to:
a. the Black-necked Stilt ( Himantopus nigricollis).
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1859 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (ed. 2) Lawyer..the black-necked Stilt... On the New Jersey coast it is some~times called lawyer on account of its ‘long bill’.
b. the Burbot ( Lota maculosa), and the Bowfin or Mudfish ( Amia calva): cf. lake-lawyer n. at lake n.4 Compounds 2a.
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c1850 S. H. Hammond Wild Northern Scenes 45 ‘What on earth is that?’ said I to the fisherman. ‘That’, said he, ‘is a species of ling; which we call in these parts a lawyer’.
1884 Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) III. 97 Amia calva, the bow~fin,..or lawyer.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
lawyer-craft n.
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1827 J. Bentham Rationale Judicial Evid. I. ii. ix. 510 The punishment of death..(so long as lawyercraft reigns) will ever continue to be, a favourite policy with the English lawyer.
lawyer-life n.
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1861 W. F. Collier Hist. Eng. Lit. 481 Pictures of middle-class lawyer-life.
C2.
lawyer-made adj.
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1860 T. P. Thompson Audi Alteram Partem (1861) III. cix. 27 The popular resistance in the present case is right, though the lawyer-made law should be wrong.
lawyer-ridden adj.
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1824 J. S. Mill in Westm. Rev. 2 376 Our lawyers, and lawyer-ridden legislators.
1907 Daily Chron. 29 Apr. 6/6 Land reform had been too long delayed, because they had been too frightened and lawyer-ridden.
C3.
lawyer-like adj. and adv.
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society > law > legal profession > lawyer > [adverb]
lawyer-like1574
society > law > legal profession > lawyer > [adjective] > resembling or characteristic of a lawyer
lawyer-like1574
lawyerly1649
legal1764
lawyerish1918
1574 tr. T. de Bèze et al. in Brieff Disc. Troubles Franckford p. ccviii The lawierlike hearinge off suites that appertaine to liuinges.
1637 News-lett. C. Rossingham in S. Gardiner Documents Proc. against W. Prynne (1877) 83 That it was not possible Mr. Burton should drawe his aunsweare to Mr. Attornyes soe lawyerlike as it was done without the helpe of some lawyer.
1876 H. R. F. Bourne Life J. Locke I. i. 6 Most of the entries are evidently in the elder Locke's own lawyer-like handwriting.
C4.
lawyer cane n. Australian Rubus australis, Calamus australis, and Flagellaria indica, the stems of which are armed with sharp thorns.
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1908 E. J. Banfield Confessions of Beachcomber i. vi. 209 The lawyer cane or vine (Calamus)..is a vegetable of tortuous ambitions.
1936 Geogr. Jrnl. 87 229 They wore a band..made out of lawyer cane, around their middles as a protection against arrows.
1965 Austral. Encycl. V. 266/2 Lawyer Cane or Lawyer Vine, a name popularly if impolitely given to species of the rattan genus Calamus..and to Flagellaria indica.
lawyer-palm n. Australian = lawyer cane n.
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1890 C. Lumholtz Among Cannibals 103 The stem and leaves are studded with the sharpest thorns, which continually cling to you and draw blood, hence its not very polite name of lawyer-palm.
lawyer-vine n. Australian = lawyer cane n.
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1892 G. Parker Round Compass Austral. xiv. 256 Don't touch that lawyer-vine; it will tear you properly, and then not let you go.
1908Lawyer vine [see lawyer cane n.]. 1965Lawyer Vine [see lawyer cane n.]. Derivatives
ˈlawyeress n. the wife of a lawyer; a female lawyer.
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society > law > legal profession > lawyer > [noun] > woman
lawyeress1835
1835 C. C. F. Greville Mem. (1875) III. xxviii. 278 Dined yesterday with the Vice-Chancellor; sixteen people..almost all lawyers and lawyeresses.
1896 Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 11 Jan. 4/4 Miss Nellie G. Robison, the Cincinnati lawyeress.
ˈlawyering n. colloquial the following of the lawyer's profession.
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society > law > legal profession > [noun] > practice of
practice1421
solicitation1492
law-craft1587
lawyering1676
legal practice1789
lawyership1881
1676 W. Wycherley Plain-dealer iv. 1 I have taken my leave of lawyering and pettifogging.
1861 Mrs. H. Wood East Lynne I. i. i. 6 ‘Egad! lawyering can't be such bad work, Carlyle’. ‘Nor is it..But you must remember that a good fortune was left me by my uncle..’. ‘I know. The proceeds of lawyering also’.
ˈlawyering adj.
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1871 T. Carlyle in Lett. & Memorials J. W. Carlyle (1883) II. 374 ‘William Harcourt’, the now lawyering, parliamenteering, &c.; loud man.
ˈlawyerling n. a contemptuous term for a lawyer; also, a young lawyer, a law-student; also attributive.
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society > law > legal profession > lawyer > [noun] > inferior, rascally, or shrewd
fogger1564
pettifogger1564
long fifteen1611
leguleian1617
peatc1680
pettifog1721
Philadelphia lawyer1788
legal beagle1822
lawyerling1830
shyster1844
legal eagle1869
society > law > legal profession > lawyer > [noun] > young
lawyerling1830
1830 D. O'Connell in Ann. Reg., Chron. 176/2 A wretched English scribe..urged on by his paltry, pitiful lawyerlings... The English Major-general and his lawyerling staff.
1862 H. Mayhew & J. Binny Criminal Prisons of London 72 A chapel-like edifice called the ‘hall’..where the lawyerlings ‘qualify’ for the bar.
ˈlawyerly adj. lawyer-like.
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society > law > legal profession > lawyer > [adjective] > resembling or characteristic of a lawyer
lawyer-like1574
lawyerly1649
legal1764
lawyerish1918
1649 J. Milton Εικονοκλαστης v. 45 To which..Law-tractats I referr the more Lawyerlie mooting of this point.
ˈlawyership n. the condition or dignity of a lawyer.
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society > law > legal profession > [noun] > practice of
practice1421
solicitation1492
law-craft1587
lawyering1676
legal practice1789
lawyership1881
1881 D. Masson Carlyle in Macmillan's Mag. 45 64 The Edinburgh..of Jeffrey in the early heyday of his lawyership and editorship of the Edinburgh Review.
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society > law > legal profession > lawyer > [noun] > collectively
gens de la robe1679
lawyery1716
black-apronry1832
wigdom1886
1716 M. Davies Athenæ Britannicæ II. To Rdr. 26 Our Magnificent Nobility,..our Munificent Lawyery, or our Wealthy Gentry.
Draft additions 1997
lawyer's wig n. = shaggy ink-cap n. at shaggy adj. Compounds 2.
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the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > vegetables > fungi > [noun] > other fungi
mayapple1872
lawyer's wig?1950
?1950 Wakefield & Dennis Common Brit. Fungi 205 Coprinus comatus. Shaggy Caps or Lawyer's wig.
1972 Times 23 Sept. 14/7 Some fungi, like the ‘Lawyers' Wigs’..sprout in their hundreds from roadside verges.
1987 M. Bon Mushrooms & Toadstools Brit. & N.-W. Europe 270 Lawyer's wig,..a good edible fungus in the young state when quite white.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1902; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
lawyerv.
/ˈlɔɪə/, /ˈlɔːjə/, U.S. /ˈlɔɪər/, /ˈlɔjər/, /ˈlɑjər/ 1. transitive. To subject to a lawyer's treatment or review.
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1797 S. J. Pratt Family Secrets V. ii. 8 The Lord talked pretty much about swords and guns. Master Nicky Dabble..seemed to think that lawyering him a little would be best.
1833 ‘Irishman’ Cry to Ireland & Empire 174 People may be too much lawyered, too much doctored, and too much pastored too.
1882 Washington Post (Electronic text) 13 June They have been ‘lawyered and attorney-generaled to death’.
1976 Times-Standard (Eureka, Calif.) 7 Aug. 4/5 These plans all had to be lawyered.
2006 Yorks. Post (Nexis) 27 Feb. With all of the central characters still alive,..he admits that his script had to be ‘lawyered to the hilt’.
2. intransitive. Originally U.S. Police slang. to lawyer up: to request a lawyer when being questioned by the police, often implying a probable lack of cooperation with the investigation; (also more generally) to hire a lawyer.
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1995 N.Y. Times 23 Feb. c18/1 What really spooks the..detectives on ‘N.Y.P.D. Blue’ is the prospect of a suspect ‘lawyering up’.
1999 J. Farrow City of Ice vi. 109 Kaplonski gave up zilch... He lawyered up and the Great Wall of Silence came down.
2006 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 17 Mar. i. 2/3 Kelso was given an ultimatum: Resign or be fired. So Kelso lawyered up.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2007; most recently modified version published online December 2019).
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