court

court¹ W1S1 [ko:t US ko:rt] n

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1¦(for deciding about a legal case)¦

2¦(for playing a sport)¦

3¦(king/queen)¦

4 hold court

5 pay court to somebody

6¦(area next to a building)¦

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[Date: 1200-1300; : Old French; Origin: Latin cohors; COHORT]

1.) ¦(FOR DECIDING ABOUT A LEGAL CASE)¦ [U and C]

the place where a trial is held, or the people there, especially the judge and the ↑jury who examine the evidence and decide whether someone is guilty or not guilty

▪ A crowd of reporters had gathered outside the court.

▪ It could not be proved in a court of law .

▪ The court case lasted six weeks.

▪ Four people will appear in court today, charged with possessing explosives.

▪ I'd rather resolve our differences without going to court .

▪ She threatened to take the magazine to court if they didn't publish an immediate apology.

▪ We hadn't enough evidence to bring the case to court .

▪ Victims are often not told when a case comes to court .

▪ In the end the matter was settled out of court .

▪ The case was thrown out of court .

▪ The court ruled that no compensation was due.

▪ The court upheld the earlier decision (=decided that the earlier decision was correct) .

▪ Dr Porter told the court that the post-mortem revealed signs of strangulation.

→↑county court, ↑crown court, ↑high court, ↑kangaroo court, ↑magistrates' court, ↑small claims court, ↑state court, ↑Supreme Court, ↑tribunal

2.) ¦(FOR PLAYING A SPORT)¦

an area made for playing games such as tennis

→↑field, pitch ↑pitch

squash/tennis/basketball etc court

▪ Can you book a squash court for tomorrow?

on court

▪ The players are due on court in an hour.

3.) ¦(KING/QUEEN)¦

a)

the place where a king or queen lives and works

▪ the royal courts of Europe

b) the court

the king, queen, their family, and their friends, advisers etc

▪ Several members of the court were under suspicion.

▪ There was a taste in court circles for romantic verse.

▪ Court officials denied the rumours.

4.) hold court

formal to speak in an interesting, amusing, or forceful way so that people gather to listen

hold court to

▪ Dylan was holding court upstairs to a group of fans.

5.) pay court to sb

old-fashioned to give someone a lot of attention to try and make them like you

6.) ¦(AREA NEXT TO A BUILDING)¦

a ↑courtyard

→the ball is in sb's court at ↑ball¹ (7), be laughed out of court at ↑laugh¹ (6), ↑food court

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COLLOCATES for sense 1

court of law

court case

appear in court

go to court

take somebody to court (=bring a legal case against someone)

bring a case to court

a case comes to court

settle something out of court (=reach an agreement about a dispute without using the court)

be thrown out of court (=a judge refuses to consider a case)

a case is heard in court (=a case is dealt with by a court)

the court (=the judge, the jury, and the other people in a court)

criminal court (=a court where cases about crimes are heard)

civil court (=a court where cases about civil disagreements are heard)

WORD FOCUS: court

people in a court of law: judge, magistrate, jury, defence (BrE) defense American English prosecution, defendant, witness, attorney, lawyer, barrister (BrE), solicitor (BrE), district attorney (AmE)

what happens in a court case: At the beginning of the trial, the person who is accused pleads guilty or not guilty to the charges against them. The lawyers for the prosecution try to prove that the defendant is guilty, and the lawyers for the defence try to prove that their client is innocent. The judge and the jury examine the evidence and listen to the testimony of the witnesses. At the end of the trial, the judge then sums up the case, and the jury then gives their verdict . If the person is found guilty , the judge sentences them to a period of time in prison, or orders them to pay a fine . If the person is found not guilty , they are released .

See also: crime, criminal

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court ²

court² v [T]

1.) to try hard to please someone, especially because you want something from them

▪ His campaign team have assiduously courted the media.

2.) court danger/death etc

formal to behave in a way that makes danger etc more likely

▪ To have admitted this would have courted political disaster .

3.) be courting

old-fashioned if a man and a woman are courting, they are having a romantic relationship and may get married

▪ That was back in the 1960s when we were courting.

4.) old-fashioned if a man courts a woman, he spends time being nice to her because he hopes to marry her