Case (kās), n. [OF.
casse, F. caisse (cf. It. cassa), fr. L.
capsa chest, box, case, fr. capere to take, hold.
See Capacious, and cf. 4th Chase, Cash,
Enchase, 3d Sash.]
1. A box, sheath, or covering; as, a
case for holding goods; a case for spectacles; the
case of a watch; the case (capsule) of a cartridge;
a case (cover) for a book.
2. A box and its contents; the quantity
contained in a box; as, a case of goods; a case of
instruments.
3. (Print.) A shallow tray divided
into compartments or "boxes" for holding type.
☞ Cases for type are usually arranged in sets of
two, called respectively the upper and the lower
case. The upper case contains capitals, small capitals,
accented and marked letters, fractions, and marks of reference:
the lower case contains the small letters, figures, marks
of punctuation, quadrats, and spaces.
4. An inclosing frame; a casing; as, a
door case; a window case.
5. (Mining) A small fissure which
admits water to the workings. Knight.
Case, v. i. To propose
hypothetical cases. [Obs.] "Casing upon the matter."
L'Estrange.
Case, n. [F. cas, fr. L.
casus, fr. cadere to fall, to happen. Cf.
Chance.] 1. Chance; accident; hap;
opportunity. [Obs.]
By aventure, or sort, or cas.
Chaucer.
2. That which befalls, comes, or happens;
an event; an instance; a circumstance, or all the circumstances;
condition; state of things; affair; as, a strange case; a
case of injustice; the case of the Indian
tribes.
In any case thou shalt deliver him the
pledge.
Deut. xxiv. 13.
If the case of the man be so with his
wife.
Matt. xix. 10.
And when a lady's in the case
You know all other things give place.
Gay.
You think this madness but a common
case.
Pope.
I am in case to justle a constable,
Shak.
3. (Med. & Surg.) A patient under
treatment; an instance of sickness or injury; as, ten
cases of fever; also, the history of a disease or
injury.
A proper remedy in hypochondriacal
cases.
Arbuthnot.
4. (Law) The matters of fact or
conditions involved in a suit, as distinguished from the
questions of law; a suit or action at law; a cause.
Let us consider the reason of the case, for
nothing is law that is not reason.
Sir John Powell.
Not one case in the reports of our
courts.
Steele.
5. (Gram.) One of the forms, or
the inflections or changes of form, of a noun, pronoun, or
adjective, which indicate its relation to other words, and in the
aggregate constitute its declension; the relation which a noun or
pronoun sustains to some other word.
Case is properly a falling off from
the nominative or first state of word; the name for which,
however, is now, by extension of its signification, applied also
to the nominative.
J. W. Gibbs.
☞ Cases other than the nominative are oblique
cases. Case endings are terminations by which certain
cases are distinguished. In old English, as in Latin, nouns had
several cases distinguished by case endings, but in modern
English only that of the possessive case is retained.
Action on the case (Law),
according to the old classification (now obsolete), was an
action for redress of wrongs or injuries to person or property
not specially provided against by law, in which the whole cause
of complaint was set out in the writ; -- called also trespass
on the case, or simply case. -- All a
case, a matter of indifference. [Obs.] "It is
all a case to me." L'Estrange. -- Case at
bar. See under Bar,
n. -- Case divinity,
casuistry. -- Case lawyer, one
versed in the reports of cases rather than in the science of the
law. -- Case stated or agreed
on (Law), a statement in writing of facts
agreed on and submitted to the court for a decision of the legal
points arising on them. -- A hard case,
an abandoned or incorrigible person. [Colloq.] --
In any case, whatever may be the state of
affairs; anyhow. -- In case, or
In case that, if; supposing that; in the
event or contingency; if it should happen that. "In
case we are surprised, keep by me." W. Irving. --
In good case, in good condition, health, or
state of body. -- To put a case, to
suppose a hypothetical or illustrative case.
Syn. -- Situation, condition, state; circumstances;
plight; predicament; occurrence; contingency; accident; event;
conjuncture; cause; action; suit.
Case, v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Cased (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Casing.] 1. To cover or protect with,
or as with, a case; to inclose.
The man who, cased in steel, had passed
whole days and nights in the saddle.
Prescott.
2. To strip the skin from; as, to
case a box. [Obs.]