law
noun
\ ˈlȯ
\
\
Definition of law
(Entry 1 of 6)
1a(1)
: a binding custom or practice of a community : a rule of conduct or action prescribed (see prescribe sense 1a) or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority
(2)
: the whole body of such customs, practices, or rules
The courts exist to uphold, interpret, and apply the law.
(3)
: common law
b(1)
: the control brought about by the existence or enforcement of such law
preserved law and order in the town
(2)
: the action of laws considered as a means of redressing wrongs
also
: litigation
developed the habit of going to law over the slightest provocation — H. A. Overstreet
(3)
: the agency of or an agent of established law
When he saw that the fighting was escalating, he called in the law.
c
: a rule or order that it is advisable or obligatory to observe
a law of self-preservation
d
: something compatible with or enforceable by established law
The decrees were judged not to be law and were therefore rescinded.
2a
often capitalized
: the revelation of the will of God set forth in the Old Testament
3
: a rule of construction or procedure
the laws of poetry
4
: the whole body of laws relating to one subject
criminal law probate law
5a
: the legal profession
studied for a career in law
b
: law as a department of knowledge : jurisprudence
c
: legal knowledge
a man with much history but little law
6a
: a statement of an order or relation of phenomena that so far as is known is invariable under the given conditions
a law of thermodynamics Boyle's law
b
: a general relation proved or assumed to hold between mathematical or logical expressions