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