Court n.
 1. An inclosed space; a courtyard; an uncovered area shut in by the walls of a building, or by different building; also, a space opening from a street and nearly surrounded by houses; a blind alley.
    The courts of the house of our God.   --Ps. cxxxv. 2.
 And round the cool green courts there ran a row
 Of cloisters.   --Tennyson.
    Goldsmith took a garret in a miserable court.   --Macaulay.
 2. The residence of a sovereign, prince, nobleman, or other dignitary; a palace.
    Attends the emperor in his royal court.   --Shak.
 This our court, infected with their manners,
 Shows like a riotous inn.   --Shak.
 3. 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.
    My lord, there is a nobleman of the court at door would speak with you.   --Shak.
    Love rules the court, the camp, the grove.   --Sir. W. Scott.
 4. Any formal assembling of the retinue of a sovereign; as, to hold a court.
    The princesses held their court within the fortress.   --Macaulay.
 5. Attention directed to a person in power; conduct or address designed to gain favor; courtliness of manners; civility; compliment; flattery.
 No solace could her paramour intreat
 Her once to show, ne court, nor dalliance.   --Spenser.
    I went to make my court to the Duke and Duchess of Newcastle.   --Evelyn.
 6. Law (a) The hall, chamber, or place, where justice is administered. (b) 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 causes. (c) A tribunal established for the administration of justice. (d) The judge or judges; as distinguished from the counsel or jury, or both.
 Most heartily I do beseech the court
 To give the judgment.   --Shak.
 7. The session of a judicial assembly.
 8. Any jurisdiction, civil, military, or ecclesiastical.
 9. A place arranged for playing the game of tennis; also, one of the divisions of a tennis court.
 Christian court, the English ecclesiastical courts in the aggregate, or any one of them.
 Court breeding, education acquired at court.
 Court card. Same as Coat card.
 Court circular, one or more paragraphs of news respecting the sovereign and the royal family, together with the proceedings or movements of the court generally, supplied to the newspapers by an officer specially charged with such duty. [Eng.] --Edwards.
 Court of claims Law, a court for settling claims against a state or government; specif., a court of the United States, created by act of Congress, and holding its sessions at Washington. It is given jurisdiction over claims on contracts against the government, and sometimes may advise the government as to its liabilities.
 Court day, a day on which a court sits to administer justice.
 Court dress, the dress prescribed for appearance at the court of a sovereign.
 Court fool, a buffoon or jester, formerly kept by princes and nobles for their amusement.
 Court guide, a directory of the names and adresses of the nobility and gentry in a town.
 Court hand, the hand or manner of writing used in records and judicial proceedings. --Shak.
 Court lands Eng. Law, lands kept in demesne, -- that is, for the use of the lord and his family.
 Court marshal, one who acts as marshal for a court.
 Court party, a party attached to the court.
 Court rolls, the records of a court. SeeRoll.
 Court in banc, or  Court in bank, The full court sitting at its regular terms for the hearing of arguments upon questions of law, as distinguished from a sitting at nisi prius.
 Court of Arches, audience, etc. See under Arches, Audience, etc.
 Court of Chancery. See Chancery, n.
 Court of Common pleas. Law See Common pleas, under Common.
 Court of Equity. See under Equity, and Chancery.
 Court of Inquiry Mil. , a court appointed to inquire into and report on some military matter, as the conduct of an officer.
 Court of St. James, the usual designation of the British Court; -- so called from the old palace of St. James, which is used for the royal receptions, levees, and drawing-rooms.
 The court of the Lord, the temple at Jerusalem; hence, a church, or Christian house of worship.
 General Court, the legislature of a State; -- so called from having had, in the colonial days, judicial power; as, the General Court of Massachusetts. [U.S.]
 To pay one's court, to seek to gain favor by attentions. “Alcibiades was assiduous in paying his court to Tissaphernes.” --Jowett.
 To put out of court, to refuse further judicial hearing.


 Gen·er·al a.
 1. Relating to a genus or kind; pertaining to a whole class or order; as, a general law of animal or vegetable economy.
 2. Comprehending many species or individuals; not special or particular; including all particulars; as, a general inference or conclusion.
 3. Not restrained or limited to a precise import; not specific; vague; indefinite; lax in signification; as, a loose and general expression.
 4. Common to many, or the greatest number; widely spread; prevalent; extensive, though not universal; as, a general opinion; a general custom.
 This general applause and cheerful shout
 Argue your wisdom and your love to Richard.   --Shak.
 5. Having a relation to all; common to the whole; as, Adam, our general sire.
 6. As a whole; in gross; for the most part.
    His general behavior vain, ridiculous.   --Shak.
 7. Usual; common, on most occasions; as, his general habit or method.
 Note: ☞ The word general, annexed to a name of office, usually denotes chief or superior; as, attorney-general; adjutant general; commissary general; quartermaster general; vicar-general, etc.
 General agent Law, an agent whom a principal employs to transact all his business of a particular kind, or to act in his affairs generally.
 General assembly. See the Note under Assembly.
 General average, General Court. See under Average, Court.
 General court-martial Mil., the highest military and naval judicial tribunal.
 General dealer Com., a shopkeeper who deals in all articles in common use.
 General demurrer Law, a demurrer which objects to a pleading in general terms, as insufficient, without specifying the defects. --Abbott.
 General epistle, a canonical epistle.
 General guides Mil., two sergeants (called the right, and the left, general guide) posted opposite the right and left flanks of an infantry battalion, to preserve accuracy in marching. --Farrow.
 General hospitals Mil., hospitals established to receive sick and wounded sent from the field hospitals. --Farrow.  General issue Law, an issue made by a general plea, which traverses the whole declaration or indictment at once, without offering any special matter to evade it. --Bouvier. --Burrill.
 General lien Law, a right to detain a chattel, etc., until payment is made of any balance due on a general account.
 General officer Mil., any officer having a rank above that of colonel.
 General orders Mil., orders from headquarters published to the whole command.
 General practitioner, in the United States, one who practices medicine in all its branches without confining himself to any specialty; in England, one who practices both as physician and as surgeon.
 General ship, a ship not chartered or let to particular parties.
 General term Logic, a term which is the sign of a general conception or notion.
 General verdict Law, the ordinary comprehensive verdict in civil actions, “for the plaintiff” or “for the defendant”. --Burrill.
 General warrant Law, a warrant, now illegal, to apprehend suspected persons, without naming individuals.
 Syn: General, Common, Universal.
 Usage: Common denotes primarily that in which many share; and hence, that which is often met with. General is stronger, denoting that which pertains to a majority of the individuals which compose a genus, or whole. Universal, that which pertains to all without exception. To be able to read and write is so common an attainment in the United States, that we may pronounce it general, though by no means universal.