释义 |
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2024law1 /lɔ/USA pronunciation n. - Law the principles, rules, and regulations set up by a government, other authority, or by custom, that apply to all the people of a group;
a system or collection of such principles and rules:[uncountable]a country that is ruled by law. - Law a single rule or principle from this collection:[countable]They passed a law to punish terrorist acts.
- Law the field of knowledge concerned with these rules, or the profession that deals with law and legal procedure:[uncountable]to study law; to practice law.
- Law the police, or the people whose job it is to enforce the law:[countable* the + ~]in trouble with the law.
- a rule or principle of proper conduct that reflects the rules of one's conscience, the concepts of natural justice, or the will of God: [countable]a moral law.[uncountable]divine law.
- a rule or manner of behavior that is instinctive:[countable]the law of self-preservation.
- (in philosophy, science, etc.) a statement of a relation or sequence of events that will always occur under the same conditions:[countable]the laws of motion.
- a rule or principle thought of as regulating or governing the structure of something, or how its parts are put together:[countable]the laws of grammar.
Idioms- Idioms be a law to or unto oneself, to act without regard for established controls, customs, or principles.
- Idioms lay down the law, to issue orders in a firm way.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2024law1 (lô),USA pronunciation n. - Lawthe principles and regulations established in a community by some authority and applicable to its people, whether in the form of legislation or of custom and policies recognized and enforced by judicial decision.
- Lawany written or positive rule or collection of rules prescribed under the authority of the state or nation, as by the people in its constitution. Cf. bylaw, statute law.
- Lawthe controlling influence of such rules;
the condition of society brought about by their observance:maintaining law and order. - Lawa system or collection of such rules.
- Lawthe department of knowledge concerned with these rules;
jurisprudence:to study law. - Lawthe body of such rules concerned with a particular subject or derived from a particular source:commercial law.
- Law, Governmentan act of the supreme legislative body of a state or nation, as distinguished from the constitution.
- Lawthe principles applied in the courts of common law, as distinguished from equity.
- Lawthe profession that deals with law and legal procedure:to practice law.
- Lawlegal action;
litigation:to go to law. - Government, Lawa person, group, or agency acting officially to enforce the law:The law arrived at the scene soon after the alarm went off.
- any rule or injunction that must be obeyed:Having a nourishing breakfast was an absolute law in our household.
- a rule or principle of proper conduct sanctioned by conscience, concepts of natural justice, or the will of a deity:a moral law.
- a rule or manner of behavior that is instinctive or spontaneous:the law of self-preservation.
- (in philosophy, science, etc.)
- a statement of a relation or sequence of phenomena invariable under the same conditions.
- a mathematical rule.
- a principle based on the predictable consequences of an act, condition, etc.:the law of supply and demand.
- a rule, principle, or convention regarded as governing the structure or the relationship of an element in the structure of something, as of a language or work of art:the laws of playwriting; the laws of grammar.
- a commandment or a revelation from God.
- (sometimes cap.) a divinely appointed order or system.
- Judaism the Law. See Law of Moses.
- the preceptive part of the Bible, esp. of the New Testament, in contradistinction to its promises:the law of Christ.
- [Brit. Sports.]an allowance of time or distance given a quarry or competitor in a race, as the head start given a fox before the hounds are set after it.
- Idioms be a law to or unto oneself, to follow one's own inclinations, rules of behavior, etc.;
act independently or unconventionally, esp. without regard for established mores. - Idioms lay down the law:
- to state one's views authoritatively.
- to give a command in an imperious manner:The manager laid down the law to the workers.
- Idioms take the law into one's own hands, to administer justice as one sees fit without recourse to the usual law enforcement or legal processes:The townspeople took the law into their own hands before the sheriff took action.
v.t. - [Chiefly Dial.]to sue or prosecute.
- [Brit.](formerly) to expeditate (an animal).
- Old Norse *lagu, early plural of lag layer, stratum, a laying in order, fixed tune, (in collective sense) law; akin to lay1, lie2
- Middle English law(e), lagh(e), Old English lagu bef. 1000
law′like′, adj. law2 (lô),USA pronunciation adj., adv., n. [Obs.]- low1.
law3 (lô),USA pronunciation v.i., v.t., n. [Obs.]- low2.
law4 (lô),USA pronunciation interj. [Older Use.]- Slang Terms(used as an exclamation expressing astonishment.)
Law (lô),USA pronunciation n. Andrew Bon•ar (bon′ər),USA pronunciation 1858–1923, English statesman, born in Canada: prime minister 1922–23.- Biographical John, 1671–1729, Scottish financier.
- Biographical William, 1686–1761, English clergyman and devotional writer.
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