court

English Online Dictionary. What means court‎? What does court mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English court, from Old French cort, curt, from Latin cōrtem (accusative of cōrs), ultimately from cohors. Doublet of cohort.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɔːt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /kɔɹt/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ko(ː)ɹt/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /koət/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /koːt/
• Homophone: caught (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger)
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t

Noun

court (plural courts)

2. An enclosed space; a courtyard; an uncovered area shut in by the walls of a building, or by different buildings; also, a space opening from a street and nearly surrounded by houses; a blind alley.
   1. (Australia, US) A street with no outlet, a cul-de-sac.
   2. (Hong Kong, only used in names) A housing estate under the Home Ownership Scheme.
   3. (Hong Kong, only used in names) An apartment building, or a small development of several apartment buildings.
4. (social) Royal society.
   1. The residence of a sovereign, prince, nobleman, or other dignitary; a palace.
   2. The collective body of persons composing the retinue of a sovereign or person high in authority; all the surroundings of a sovereign in his regal state.

      Meronym: royal household
   3. Any formal assembling of the retinue of a sovereign.
6. Attention directed to a person in power; behaviour designed to gain favor; politeness of manner; civility towards someone.
7. (law) The administration of law.
   1. The hall, chamber, or place, where justice is administered.

   2. The persons officially assembled under authority of law, at the appropriate time and place, for the administration of justice; an official assembly, legally met together for the transaction of judicial business; a judge or judges sitting for the hearing or trial of cases.
   3. An organization for the administration of law, consisting of a body of judges with a certain jurisdiction along with its administrative apparatus.

   4. (often capitalized) The judge or judges or other judicial officer presiding in a particular matter, particularly as distinguished from the counsel or jury, or both.
   5. The session of a judicial assembly.
   6. Any jurisdiction, civil, military, or ecclesiastical.
8. (sports) A place arranged for playing the games of tennis, basketball, handball, badminton, volleyball, squash and some other games
   1. one of the two divisions of a tennis, badminton or volleyball court, in which the player or players of each team play
9. (ornithology) A space prepared and decorated by certain bird species in which to advertise themselves for a mate.

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Bulgarian: корт (kort)
• → French: court
• → Russian: корт (kort)
  • → Armenian: կորտ (kort)

Translations

Verb

court (third-person singular simple present courts, present participle courting, simple past and past participle courted)

1. (transitive) To seek to achieve or win (a prize).
2. (transitive) To risk (a consequence, usually negative).
3. (transitive) To try to win a commitment to marry from.
4. (transitive) To engage in behavior conducive to mating with.
5. (transitive) To attempt to attract; to invite by attractions; to allure.

   Synonyms: charm, entrance; see also Thesaurus:allure
6. (transitive) To attempt to gain alliance with.
7. (intransitive) To engage in activities intended to win affections.

   Synonyms: romance, solicit; see also Thesaurus:woo

8. (intransitive) To engage in courtship behavior.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• court on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Crout, Curto, Turco, Turco-, crout

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kuʁ/
• Homophones: cour, coure, courent, coures, courre, cours, courts
• Rhymes: -uʁ

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old French curt, from Latin curtus.

Adjective

court (feminine courte, masculine plural courts, feminine plural courtes)

1. short

Derived terms

Related terms

• accourcir
• écourter

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

court

1. third-person singular present indicative of courir

Etymology 3

Borrowed from English court.

Noun

court m (plural courts)

1. (tennis) court

Derived terms

• fond de court

Further reading

• “court”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• cort, corte, cortt, courte, curt, curth

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French cort, curt, from Latin cōrs, contraction of cohors, cohortem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kuːrt/

Noun

court (plural courtes)

1. A courtyard; an enclosed space.
2. A grand residence, especially that of a ruler or noble.
3. The household or retinue of a ruler; a ruler's court.
4. A (royal) assembly; a deliberative body.
5. A court of law; the body which administers justice:
   1. A court building; the place where justice is administered.
   2. A session of a judicial assembly.
   3. (rare) A legal action.

Related terms

• courteour
• curteis
• curtylage

Descendants

• English: court (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: court, coort

References

• “cǒurt, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French cort, curt, etc.

Noun

court f (plural cours)

1. court (of law)
2. court (of a palace, etc.)

Descendants

• French: cour

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (court, supplement)

Norman

Etymology

From Old French curt, from Latin curtus (“shortened, short”).

Adjective

court m

1. (Jersey) short

Derived terms

• courtément (adverb)

Walloon

Etymology

From Old French curt, from Latin curtus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kuːʀ/

Adjective

court m (feminine singular courte, masculine plural courts, feminine plural courtes, feminine plural (before noun) courtès)

1. short