Forms: 4– case; also 4 cas, caas, kase, 4–6 cass, 5 kace, 5–6 casse, 6 (Sc.) cais. [a. ONF. casse, in central OF. chasce, chasse, mod.F. châsse (= It. cassa):—L. capsa case, receptacle, f. cap-ĕre to take, hold.]
1. A thing fitted to contain or enclose something else; a receptacle or holder; a box, chest, bag, sheath, covering, etc.; spec. in very early use (as in OF.) a reliquary.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 21617. And ilk paskes … wit-vten case … þis cros was men þan wont to se.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XX. 304. Ane cass of siluir fyne.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1500. The arwes in the caas.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. cxxvi. (1495), 686. Of russhes ben made … cuppys and casses and baskettes to kepe in lettres and other thynges.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 269/1. Kace, or casse for pynnys, capcella.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., III. ii. 351. The Case of a Treble Hoeboy was a Mansion for him.
a. 1639. Wotton (J.). A fair case for books.
1859. Tennyson, Elaine, 973. Full meekly rose the maid, Stript of the case, and gave the naked shield.
1872. E. Yates, Castaway, I. 5 (Hoppe). Lighting a cigar and handing his case to his friend.
b. with various substantives or adjs. indicating special use or purpose; e.g., book-case, card-case, cigar-case, etc. (for which see their first element).
1382. Wyclif, Isa. xxii. 6. And Elam toc an arewe caas.
1552–3. Inv. Ch. Goods Staffs., 46. Ij corporas casys of sylke with ij corporases.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., III. ii. 45. A paire of bootes that haue beene candle-cases.
Mod. A collector of plants with his botanical case.
c. A box or frame in which choice or delicate plants are grown, e.g., fern-case, Wardian case.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 205. The least size of Cases ought to be of sixteen Inches … supported from the Ground with Knobs or Feet four Inches.
1704. Worlidge, Dict. Rust. et Urb., s.v. Fir, Sow the Seeds in Beds or Cases … during March.
1842. Tennyson, Amphion, xi. Squares of tropic summer shut And warm’d in crystal cases.
2. The outer protective or covering part of anything, as the case of a watch, a fire-work, a sausage; a natural outer covering, sheath or receptacle; e.g., a seed-vessel, the ‘case’ of a pupa or chrysalis, of a case-worm, etc.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xl. (1495), 155. The blood sholde be brent but yf the superfluyte therof had place within the caas of the galle.
1605. Shaks., Lear, IV. vi. 147. Lear. Read. Glou. What, with the Case of eyes? Ibid. (1611), Wint. T., V. ii. 14. They seem’d almost, with staring on one another, to teare the Cases of their Eyes.
1605. Timme, Quersit., III. 178. All the kindes of poppey, with their cases which containe the seed.
1660. Boyle, New Exp. Phys.-Mech., xxvii. 206. We took a Watch, whose Case we open’d.
1665. Phil. Trans., I. 89. This Insect leaves two Coats … in the Theca or Case.
1691. Ray, Creation, II. (1692), 91 (J.). Other Caterpillars of a different kind, which have produced no lesser number of Maggots, that in like manner immediately made themselves up in Cases.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., II. vi. 70. This solid case of nine-foot ice cannot possibly give way until the late changes of fall.
1870. Emerson, Soc. & Solit., Wks. (Bohn), III. 41. The care which covers the seed of the tree under tough husks and stony cases.
b. So in comb., as clock-case, pillow-case, watch-case; seed-case, pupa-case: see CLOCK, etc.
1848. C. A. Johns, Week at Lizard, 298. The unusual hardness of the seed-case.
c. spec.
1869. Eng. Mech., 24 Dec., 354/1. Galls are of two kinds, called respectively galls and cases. Galls are more or less solid or ligneous, and contain one insect. Cases are hollow and horny, comprising a colony of insects.
d. Book-binding. (= BOOK CASE.) The boards and back, cloth-covered or otherwise, in which books are ‘cased’ or ‘bound in cloth,’ and which are often prepared and issued to the public for the annual volumes of magazines, etc. Also a cover of a similar kind made to hold separate pamphlets, etc., without binding, so that they can be arranged among books in a library.
1868. E. Arber (Prospectus of Eng. Reprints), Handsome cases, in best roan and cloth, Roxburghe style, to contain six of the ‘Reprints.’ One shilling each.
Mod. Cloth cases, gilt-lettered, for binding the volume will be issued with the December number.
3. fig. The body (as enclosing the soul, etc.).
1547–64. Bauldwin, Mor. Philos. (Palfr.), ii. 6. The body … the case & sepulchre of the soule.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., IV. xv. 89. This case of that huge Spirit now is cold.
1883. J. Gilmour, Mongols, xviii. 214. The body is merely the case or shell in which the soul lives.
† b. The exterior (of a man). Obs.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., VIII. i. § 26. On the inside thereof walked the proper case of a man well habited.
† 4. The skin or hide of an animal. Obs.
a. 1569. Kingesmyll, Man’s Est., vi. (1580), 31. Every mans skinne is the case of a sinner.
1575. Turberv., Venerie, lxxii. 198. His [Raynard’s] case will serue to fur the cape of master huntsmans gowne.
1633. Costlie Whore, II. ii. in Bullen, O. Pl., IV. 253. For Hares and Asses weare the lion’s case.
1704. Worlidge, Dict. Rust. et Urb., s.v. Wild-Cat, Tho her case be not so good as that of the Martern, yet it is very warm.
b. Applied to clothes or garments. Obs.
1593. Nashe, Christ’s T., 73 b. Our garments (which are cases and couers for our bodies).
1597. 1st Pt. Return fr. Parnass., I. i. 370. Then he steps, and bringes out Signior Barbarisme in a case of nightcapps, in a case of headpeeces all-to-be-wrought.
1650. Fuller, Pisgah, II. xi. § 21. [Samson] bestowed their corps on the earth, and their cases on their fellow countrymen.
1667. Dryden, Ind. Emperor, II. ii. A Man of bearded Face, His Limbs all cover’d with a shining Case.
5. The frame in which a door or window is set; cf. STAIRCASE.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel (1664), 44. That doore cases (well ankered into the wall) be made as high again as they are wide, and so must well proportioned window cases be.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe (1840), I. xiv. 248. I made a formal framed door-case, and a door to it of boards.
1827. Hone, Every-day Bk., II. 25. Affixed to the outer door-case.
1876. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., Case of a Stair, the wall surrounding a staircase.
6. ‘The outer part of a house or building’ (J.); the shell or carcass.
1677. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., I. iii. 75. That case or Sceleton of the World. Ibid., 76. The case or Fabrick of the House.
1704. Worlidge, Dict. Rust. et Urb., s.v. Oak, The rough-grain’d body of a stubbed Oak, is fittest for the Case of a Cyder-Mill, and such Engines.
1704. Addison, Italy, 147. The Case of the Holy House is nobly design’d.
1876. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., Case … is also a term used to denote the carcass of a house.
b. Masonry. ‘An outside facing of a building, of material superior to that of the backing’ (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1874).
c. In the following some have suggested influence of It. casa house.
a. 1678. Marvell, Wks. (1875), III. 497. A net … That Charles himself might chase To Caresbrook’s narrow case.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Case, a House, Shop, or Ware-house.
1730–6. Bailey, Case, a house where thieves, pick-pockets, whores, house-breakers, highway-men, and all the loose, idle, furacious crew meet and drink, sing, dance, and revel.
7. A box or chest with its proper contents; often of definite character (e.g., a case of surgical instruments, a dressing-case); or of determinate quantity, as a case of glass. † Case of drawers: chest of drawers (obs.).
1540. Act 32 Hen. VIII., xiv. For euery case of veluet conteinyng .xiiii. pieces of veluet v.s.
1686. Lond. Gaz., No. 2118/4. Looking-Glasses, Screwtores, Cases of Drawers.
1704. Worlidge, Dict. Rust. et Urb., Case; this of Normandy-Glass is 120 Foot.
1745. P. Thomas, Jrnl. Anson’s Voy., 58. Cases of Spanish Brandies and Wines.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 555. Cases of arms from Holland.
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 217. Nail set cases, dressing cases … work cases, writing cases.
b. Hence (or from 8), A set.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., III. ii. 5. The knocks are too hot: and for mine owne part, I haue not a Case of Liues.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. xvii. Cicely … displayed a case of teeth which might have rivalled ivory.
8. A case of pistols (dags): a couple, brace. So † a case of rapiers. Also transf. A brace, a pair.
1579. Lanc. Wills (1860), II. 126. One case of pystolles … a case [of] dagges.
c. 1590. Marlowe, Faust, vi. I have run up and down the world with this case of rapiers.
1598. B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum., Pref. 82. An inseparable case of coxcombs, city-borne; The Gemini or Twins of foppery.
1667. Earl Orrery, State Lett. (1743), II. 118. A hundred case of pistols.
1832. G. Downes, Lett. Cont. Countries, I. 304. [He] discharged in the act a case of pistols.
† b. ? One of a pair, the fellow to another.
1623. Fletcher, Maid of Mill, II. ii. The other is the case of this.
9. Printing. The receptacle or frame in which the compositor has his types, divided into compartments for the various letters, figures and spaces.
In ordinary printing the compositor has two such cases before him on a slanting stand, the upper case containing the capitals, etc., the lower the small letters, ordinary spaces, etc.
1588. Marprel. Ep. (Arb.), 22. His Letters melted, with cases and other tooles defaced.
1637. Decree Star Chamb., 11 July § 23. That no Master-printer shall imploy either to worke at the Case, or the Presse [any but Freemen].
1824. J. Johnson, Typogr., II. i. 9. The compositor is materially retarded, by moving from one case to another.
1880. Printing Trades Jrnl., No. 32. 25. Many eminent journalists began life at a compositor’s case.
10. Mil. Short for case-shot.
1667. Lond. Gaz., No. 160/4. Being all laden below with double and barrs, and above with Case and Baggs.
1810. Wellington, Lett., in Gurw., Disp., VI. 151. Let there be 20 rounds of Case for each gun.
1879. Athenæum, 1 Nov., 556/3. The fire of case from the Russian batteries.
11. Mining. (see quot.)
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Case. A small fissure, admitting water into the workings.
12. Comb., as case-maker, -plant, -spring, -tree, -wing; case-bay, in Building (see quot.); case-man (Printing), one who works at the case, a compositor; case-paper, ? a corruption of CASSE-paper; † case-pepper, a species of Capsicum (prob. C. baccatum); case-rack, the wooden frame in which printers’ cases are kept; case-room, the compositors’ room; case-work, ‘a book glued on the back and stuck into a “case” previously prepared’ (Knight). Also CASE-BOTTLE, -WORM, etc.
1876. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., *Case Bays, the joists framed between a pair of girders in naked flooring…. The extent of the case-bays should not exceed ten feet.
c. 1450. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 688. Hic cassarius, a *casmaker.
1664. Pepys, Diary (1879), III. 36. Thence to my case-maker for my stone case.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Case-maker, a carpenter who makes wooden packing-cases for shipping goods.
1615. Markham, Eng. Housew., II. i. (1668), 26. Seven corns of *case pepper.
1675. Evelyn, Terra (1729), 45. Exoticks and choicer *Case Plants.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 47. [He] fixes the *case springs in a thin brass ring between the movement and the case.
1664. Evelyn, Sylva (1776), 139. To shelter Orange and other tender *case-trees from the parching sun.
1770–4. A. Hunter, Georg. Ess. (1803), III. 100. The elytra, or *case-wings, are of a reddish brown colour.
