Definition of "case"

case¹

/keɪs/

noun
plural cases
1. An actual event, situation, or fact.
  Quotations
  Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.
  2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845
2. (now rare) A given condition or state.
  Quotations
  Ne wist he how to turne, nor to what place: / Was never wretched man in such a wofull cace.
  1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie
  Mares which are over-fat, hold with much difficulty; whereas those that are but in good case and plump, conceive with the greatest readiness and ease.
  1726, Nathan Bailey, John Worlidge, Dictionarium Rusticum, Urbanicum & Botanicum
3. A piece of work, specifically defined within a profession; the set of tasks involved in addressing the situation of a specific person or event.
  Quotations
  We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.
  1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.
  The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff. These properties were known to have belonged to a toddy drawer. He had disappeared.
  1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 4, in Pulling the Strings
4. (academia) An instance or event as a topic of study.
  Quotations
  He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record.
  2012 March-April, John T. Jost, “Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)?”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 162
5. (law) A legal proceeding; a lawsuit or prosecution.
  Quotations
  “Two or three months more went by ; the public were eagerly awaiting the arrival of this semi-exotic claimant to an English peerage, and sensations, surpassing those of the Tichbourne case, were looked forward to with palpitating interest. […]”
  1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Tremarn Case‎
6. (grammar) A specific inflection of a word (particularly a noun, pronoun, or adjective) depending on its function in the sentence.
  Quotations
  Now, the Subject of either an indicative or a subjunctive Clause is always assigned Nominative case, as we see from:(16) (a) I know [that they/*them/*their leave for Hawaii tomorrow](16) (b) I demand [that they/*them/*their leave for Hawaii tomorrow]By contrast, the Subject of an infinitive Clause is assigned Objective case, as we see from:(17) I want [them/*they/*their to leave for Hawaii tomorrow]And the Subject of a gerund Clause is assigned either Objective or Genitive case: cf. (18) I don't like the idea of [them/their/*they leaving for Hawaii tomorrow]
  1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 6, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 292
7. (grammar, uncountable) Grammatical cases and their meanings taken either as a topic in general or within a specific language.
8. (medicine) An instance of a specific condition or set of symptoms.
9. (programming) A section of code representing one of the actions of a conditional switch.
  Quotations
  Place a break statement at the end of every case to prevent case fall-through.
  2004, Rick Miller, C++ for Artists
  Execution does not automatically stop at the next case.
  2011, Stephen Prata, C++ Primer Plus, page 275
verb
third-person singular simple present cases, present participle casing, simple past and past participle cased
1. (obsolete) to propose hypothetical cases
  Quotations
  Casing upon the Matter.
  1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […]

case²

/keɪs/

noun
plural cases
1. A box that contains or can contain a number of identical items of manufacture.
2. A box, sheath, or covering generally.
3. A piece of luggage that can be used to transport an apparatus such as a sewing machine.
4. An enclosing frame or casing.
5. A suitcase.
6. A piece of furniture, constructed partially of transparent glass or plastic, within which items can be displayed.
7. The outer covering or framework of a piece of apparatus such as a computer.
8. (printing, historical) A shallow tray divided into compartments or "boxes" for holding type, traditionally arranged in sets of two, the "upper case" (containing capitals, small capitals, accented) and "lower case" (small letters, figures, punctuation marks, quadrats, and spaces).
9. (typography, by extension) The nature of a piece of alphabetic type, whether a “capital” (upper case) or “small” (lower case) letter.
10. (poker slang) Four of a kind.
11. (US) A unit of liquid measure used to measure sales in the beverage industry, equivalent to 192 fluid ounces.
12. (mining) A small fissure which admits water into the workings.
13. A thin layer of harder metal on the surface of an object whose deeper metal is allowed to remain soft.
14. A cardboard box that holds (usually 24) beer bottles or cans.
15. (UK, slang, obsolete) A counterfeit crown (five-shilling coin).
  Quotations
  The price of a case (five shillings piece bad) from the smasher is about one shilling; an alderman (two and sixpence) about sixpence; a peg (shilling) about threepence; a downer or sprat (sixpence) about twopence.
  1859, Snowden's magistrates assistant, page 90
adjective
not comparable
1. (poker slang) The last remaining card of a particular rank.
  Quotations
  If he did have a bigger ace, I still had at least six outs — the case ace, two nines, and three tens. I could also have more outs if he held anything less than A-K.
  2006, David Apostolico, Lessons from the Professional Poker Tour, page 21
verb
third-person singular simple present cases, present participle casing, simple past and past participle cased
1. (transitive) To place (an item or items of manufacture) into a box, as in preparation for shipment.
2. (transitive) To cover or protect with, or as if with, a case; to enclose.
  Quotations
  The man who, cased in steel, had passed whole days and nights in the saddle.
  1855–1858, William H[ickling] Prescott, History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company
3. (transitive, informal) To survey (a building or other location) surreptitiously, as in preparation for a robbery.
  Quotations
  You are in the grounds of Brockholes Abbey, a house into which a great deal of valuable property has just been moved. And your job is to case the joint for a break in.
  1977, Michael Innes, The Gay Phoenix, page 116
  Bonnie worked as a daycare director. She helped case the FBI office by posing as a college student interested in becoming an FBI agent.
  2014, Amy Goodman, From COINTELPRO to Snowden, the FBI Burglars Speak Out After 43 Years of Silence (Part 2), Democracy Now!, January 8, 2014, 0:49 to 0:57