1 a (1)
: a binding custom or practice of a community : a rule of conduct or action prescribed (see prescribe 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.
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something compatible with or enforceable by established law - The decrees were judged not to be law and were therefore rescinded.
2 a
often capitalized
: the revelation of the will of God set forth in the Old Testament
3
: a rule of construction or procedure
4
: the whole body of laws relating to one subject
5 a
: the legal profession - studied for a career in law
c
: legal knowledge - a man with much history but little law
6 a
: a statement of an order or relation of phenomena that so far as is known is invariable under the given conditions
b
: a general relation proved or assumed to hold between mathematical or logical expressions
—
at law
: under or within the provisions of the law