Note: In the brain of man the cerebral lobes, or largest part
of the forebrain, are enormously developed so as to
overhang the cerebellum, the great lobe of the
hindbrain, and completely cover the lobes of the
midbrain. The surface of the cerebrum is divided into
irregular ridges, or convolutions, separated by grooves
(the so-called fissures and sulci), and the two
hemispheres are connected at the bottom of the
longitudinal fissure by a great transverse band of
nervous matter, the corpus callosum, while the two
halves of the cerebellum are connected on the under
side of the brain by the bridge, or pons Varolii.
2. (Zo["o]l.) The anterior or cephalic ganglion in insects
and other invertebrates.
3. The organ or seat of intellect; hence, the understanding.
`` My brain is too dull.'' --Sir W. Scott.
Note: In this sense, often used in the plural.
4. The affections; fancy; imagination. [R.] --Shak.
{To have on the brain}, to have constantly in one's thoughts,
as a sort of monomania. [Low]
{Brain box} or {case}, the bony on cartilaginous case
inclosing the brain.
{Brain coral}, {Brain stone coral} (Zo["o]l), a massive
reef-building coral having the surface covered by ridges
separated by furrows so as to resemble somewhat the
surface of the brain, esp. such corals of the genera
{M[ae]andrina} and {Diploria}.
{Brain fag} (Med.), brain weariness. See {Cerebropathy}.
{Brain fever} (Med.), fever in which the brain is specially
affected; any acute cerebral affection attended by fever.
{Brain sand}, calcareous matter found in the pineal gland.
2. A box and its contents; the quantity contained in a box;
as, a case of goods; a case of instruments.
3. (Print.) A shallow tray divided into compartments or
``boxes'' for holding type.
Note: Cases for type are usually arranged in sets of two,
called respectively the upper and the lower case. The
{upper case} contains capitals, small capitals,
accented and marked letters, fractions, and marks of
reference: the {lower case} contains the small letters,
figures, marks of punctuation, quadrats, and spaces.
4. An inclosing frame; a casing; as, a door case; a window
case.
5. (Mining) A small fissure which admits water to the
workings. --Knight.
The man who, cased in steel, had passed whole days
and nights in the saddle. --Prescott.
2. To strip the skin from; as, to case a box. [Obs.]
By aventure, or sort, or cas. --Chaucer.
2. That which befalls, comes, or happens; an event; an
instance; a circumstance, or all the circumstances;
condition; state of things; affair; as, a strange case; a
case of injustice; the case of the Indian tribes.
In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge.
--Deut. xxiv.
13.
If the case of the man be so with his wife. --Matt.
xix. 10.
And when a lady's in the case You know all other
things give place. --Gay.
You think this madness but a common case. --Pope.
I am in case to justle a constable, --Shak.
3. (Med. & Surg.) A patient under treatment; an instance of
sickness or injury; as, ten cases of fever; also, the
history of a disease or injury.
A proper remedy in hypochondriacal cases.
--Arbuthnot.
4. (Law) The matters of fact or conditions involved in a
suit, as distinguished from the questions of law; a suit
or action at law; a cause.
Let us consider the reason of the case, for nothing
is law that is not reason. --Sir John
Powell.
Not one case in the reports of our courts. --Steele.
5. (Gram.) One of the forms, or the inflections or changes of
form, of a noun, pronoun, or adjective, which indicate its
relation to other words, and in the aggregate constitute
its declension; the relation which a noun or pronoun
sustains to some other word.
Case is properly a falling off from the nominative
or first state of word; the name for which, however,
is now, by extension of its signification, applied
also to the nominative. --J. W. Gibbs.
Note: Cases other than the nominative are oblique cases. Case
endings are terminations by which certain cases are
distinguished. In old English, as in Latin, nouns had
several cases distinguished by case endings, but in
modern English only that of the possessive case is
retained.
{Action on the case} (Law), according to the old
classification (now obsolete), was an action for redress
of wrongs or injuries to person or property not specially
provided against by law, in which the whole cause of
complaint was set out in the writ; -- called also
{trespass on the case}, or simply {case}.
{All a case}, a matter of indifference. [Obs.] ``It is all a
case to me.'' --L'Estrange.
{Case at bar}. See under {Bar}, n.
{Case lawyer}, one versed in the reports of cases rather than
in the science of the law.
{Case} {stated or agreed on} (Law), a statement in writing of
facts agreed on and submitted to the court for a decision
of the legal points arising on them.
{A hard case}, an abandoned or incorrigible person. [Colloq.]
{In any case}, whatever may be the state of affairs; anyhow.
{In case}, or {In case that}, if; supposing that; in the
event or contingency; if it should happen that. ``In case
we are surprised, keep by me.'' --W. Irving.
{In good case}, in good condition, health, or state of body.
{To put a case}, to suppose a hypothetical or illustrative
case.
Syn: Situation, condition, state; circumstances; plight;
predicament; occurrence; contingency; accident; event;
conjuncture; cause; action; suit.