Etymology From Middle English cas, from Old French cas (“an event”), from Latin cāsus (“a falling, a fall; accident, event, occurrence; occasion, opportunity; noun case”), perfect passive participle of cadō (“to fall, to drop”).
For a change, in this case, he was telling the truth.
It is not the case that every unfamiliar phrase is an idiom.
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In case of fire, break glass. [sign on fire extinguisher holder in public space]
Conditioning would require exposition to any sentence before being uttered, which isn’t the case.
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:
Thus vvhilſt he hopt he hild her leaſt, ſo altereth the cace / VVith ſuch as ſhe, Ah ſuch it is to build on ſuch a face.1586, William Warner, “The Fourth Booke. Chapter XXXVI.”, in Albions England. Or Historicall Map of the Same Island: […], London: […] George Robinson [and R. Ward] for Thomas Cadman, […], →OCLC, page 174:
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, →OCLC:
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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:
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A specific matter or piece of work, specifically defined within a profession, usually in respect of a specific person and/or event; the set of tasks involved in addressing one such matter.
It was one of the detective's easiest cases.
Social workers should work on a maximum of forty active cases.
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The doctor told us of an interesting case he had treated that morning.
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., →OCLC:
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:
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Academia, Scholarly, Sciences An instance or event as a topic of study.
The teaching consists of theory lessons and case studies.
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:
“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. […]”1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Tremarn Case”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:
As the conflict has dragged on, prosecutors in Ukraine are now pursuing 247 cases of environmental war crimes against Russia in Ukrainian courts and the International Criminal Court, according to reporting published in April by the New York Times.2025 November 20, Simmone Shah, “Ukraine to Claim $44bn in Climate Damages From Russia. Why War Is So Bad For Emissions”, in TIME, archived from the original on 08 Dec 2025:
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Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences A specific inflection of a word (particularly a noun, pronoun, or adjective) depending on its function in the sentence.
The accusative case most commonly indicates a direct object.
Latin has six cases, and remnants of a seventh.
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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:
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Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences Grammatical cases and their meanings taken either as a topic in general or within a specific language.
Jane has been studying case in Caucasian languages.
Latin is a language that employs case.
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Medicine, Sciences An instance of a specific condition or set of symptoms.
There were another five cases reported overnight.
We turn next to the puzzle of borderlineness: If Harry is intermediate between clear cases and clear noncases of baldness, “Is Harry bald?” seems to have no good, direct, answer.2013, Gillian Russell, Delia Graff Fara, Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Language, page 144:
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Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Programming, Sciences A section of code representing one of the actions of a conditional switch.
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:
Poor fellow, just as I thought! It's a case with him, anybody can see that. He is thinking about Christine, for a certainty. Lovers always take to stargazing and moonlight dreaming — it's part of their complaint.1867, The Young Ladies' Journal, page 467:
I thought it only an amourette when you told me. It was a fire — a conflagration; subdue it. I saw it was a case, and I advised you to try — dissipation.1876, The New York Drama, volumes 1-2, page 1:
Etymology From Middle English cas, from Old French cas (“an event”), from Latin cāsus (“a falling, a fall; accident, event, occurrence; occasion, opportunity; noun case”), perfect passive participle of cadō (“to fall, to drop”).
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, […], →OCLC:
case
adj
Etymology From Middle English case, from Old Northern French casse (compare Old French chasse (“box, chest, case”)), from Latin capsa (“box, bookcase”), from capiō (“to take, seize, hold”). Doublet of cash, chase, and chasse. Compare Spanish caja, Asturian caxa, Portuguese caixa.
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:
case
verb
Etymology From Middle English case, from Old Northern French casse (compare Old French chasse (“box, chest, case”)), from Latin capsa (“box, bookcase”), from capiō (“to take, seize, hold”). Doublet of cash, chase, and chasse. Compare Spanish caja, Asturian caxa, Portuguese caixa.
1
To place (an item or items of manufacture) into a box, as in preparation for shipment.
2
To cover or protect with, or as if with, a case; to enclose.
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, volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, →OCLC:
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Informal To survey (a building or other location) surreptitiously, as in preparation for a robbery.
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, →ISBN, 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
Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences abstract feature of a noun phrase that determines its function in a sentence, such as a grammatical case and a position.
The basic principle governing case is: (20) The Case filter: A lexicalized NP must bear a Case feature in S-structure. ‘Case’ with a capital C is here understood not as morphologically marked case, but as an abstract feature which will be present even in languages such as Swahili or Chinese which lack case marking on NPs (it is usually assumed however, that Case will be congruent with morphological case where the latter is present).1988, Frederick J. Newmeyer, Linguistic Theory: Foundations:
When we have clitic doubling constructions (with both a full NP and a clitic), the NP needs a dummy Case marker in order to get Case, as its “normal” Case is absorbed by the clitic, otherwise it will be ruled out by the Case Filter. It must be stressed that ‘Case’ here is abstract Case (written with capital C), a licensing requirement making arguments visible for θ-marking, and not morphological case.1993, Anders Holmberg, Urpo Nikanne, Case and Other Functional Categories in Finnish Syntax:
case
noun
Etymology From Middle English case, from Old Northern French casse (compare Old French chasse (“box, chest, case”)), from Latin capsa (“box, bookcase”), from capiō (“to take, seize, hold”). Doublet of cash, chase, and chasse. Compare Spanish caja, Asturian caxa, Portuguese caixa.
A box that contains or can contain a number of identical items of manufacture.
2
A box, sheath, or covering generally.
a case for spectacles; the case of a watch
3
A piece of luggage that can be used to transport an apparatus such as a sewing machine.
4
An enclosing frame or casing.
a door case; a window case
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.
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Media, Printing, PublishingHistorical 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).
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Media, Publishing, TypographyBroadly The nature of a piece of alphabetic type, whether a “capital” (upper case) or “small” (lower case) letter.
US A unit of liquid measure used to measure sales in the beverage industry, equivalent to 192 fluid ounces.
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Business, 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.
a single case of Bud Light
15
UK, Obsolete, Slang A counterfeit crown (five-shilling coin).
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: