Court \Court\ (k[=o]rt), n. [OF. court, curt, cort, F. cour, LL.
   cortis, fr. L. cohors, cors, chors, gen. cohortis, cortis,
   chortis, an inclosure, court, thing inclosed, crowd, throng;
   co- + a root akin to Gr. chorto`s inclosure, feeding place,
   and to E. garden, yard, orchard. See Yard, and cf.
   Cohort, Curtain.]
   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.
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            The courts of the house of our God.   --Ps. cxxxv.
                                                  2.
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            And round the cool green courts there ran a row
            Of cloisters.                         --Tennyson.
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            Goldsmith took a garret in a miserable court.
                                                  --Macaulay.
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   2. The residence of a sovereign, prince, nobleman, or other
      dignitary; a palace.
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            Attends the emperor in his royal court. --Shak.
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            This our court, infected with their manners,
            Shows like a riotous inn.             --Shak.
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   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.
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            My lord, there is a nobleman of the court at door
            would speak with you.                 --Shak.
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            Love rules the court, the camp, the grove. --Sir. W.
                                                  Scott.
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   4. Any formal assembling of the retinue of a sovereign; as,
      to hold a court.
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            The princesses held their court within the fortress.
                                                  --Macaulay.
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   5. Attention directed to a person in power; conduct or
      address designed to gain favor; courtliness of manners;
      civility; compliment; flattery.
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            No solace could her paramour intreat
            Her once to show, ne court, nor dalliance.
                                                  --Spenser.
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            I went to make my court to the Duke and Duchess of
            Newcastle.                            --Evelyn.
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   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.
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                Most heartily I do beseech the court
                To give the judgment.             --Shak.
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   7. The session of a judicial assembly.
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   8. Any jurisdiction, civil, military, or ecclesiastical.
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   9. A place arranged for playing the game of tennis; also, one
      of the divisions of a tennis court.
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   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. [Webster
      1913 Suppl.]

   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.
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Christian \Chris"tian\, a.
   1. Pertaining to Christ or his religion; as, Christian
      people.
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   3. Pertaining to the church; ecclesiastical; as, a Christian
      court. --Blackstone.
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   4. Characteristic of Christian people; civilized; kind;
      kindly; gentle; beneficent.
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            The graceful tact; the Christian art. --Tennyson.
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   Christian Commission. See under Commission.

   Christian court. Same as Ecclesiastical court.

   Christian Endeavor, Young People's Society of. In various
      Protestant churches, a society of young people organized
      in each individual church to do Christian work; also, the
      whole body of such organizations, which are united in a
      corporation called the United Society of Christian
      Endeavor, organized in 1885. The parent society was
      founded in 1881 at Portland, Maine, by Rev. Francis E.
      Clark, a Congregational minister. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

   Christian era, the present era, commencing with the birth
      of Christ. It is supposed that owing to an error of a monk
      (Dionysius Exiguus, d. about 556) employed to calculate
      the era, its commencement was fixed three or four years
      too late, so that 1890 should be 1893 or 1894.

   Christian name, the name given in baptism, as distinct from
      the family name, or surname.
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