case

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A container; a receptacle.
• noun A container with its contents.
• noun A decorative or protective covering or cover.
• noun A set or pair.
• noun The frame or framework of a window, door, or stairway.
• noun The surface or outer layer of a metal alloy.
• noun A shallow compartmented tray for storing type or type matrices.
• noun The form of a written, printed, or keyed letter that distinguishes it as being lowercase or uppercase.
• transitive verb To put into or cover with a case; encase.
• transitive verb Slang To examine carefully, as in planning a crime.
• noun An instance or occurrence of a particular kind or category: synonym: example.
• noun An occurrence of a disease or disorder.
• noun A set of circumstances or a state of affairs; a situation.
• noun Actual fact; reality.
• noun A question or problem; a matter.
• noun A situation that requires investigation, especially by a formal or official body.
• noun An action or a suit or just grounds for an action.
• noun The facts or evidence offered in support of a claim.
• noun A set of reasons or supporting facts; an argument.
• noun A person being assisted, treated, or studied, as by a physician, lawyer, or social worker.
• noun Informal A peculiar or eccentric person; a character.
• noun In traditional grammar, a distinct form of a noun, pronoun, or modifier that is used to express one or more particular syntactic relationships to other words in a sentence.
• noun In some varieties of generative grammar, the thematic or semantic role of a noun phrase as represented abstractly but not necessarily indicated overtly in surface structure. In such frameworks, nouns in English have Case even in the absence of inflectional case endings.
• idiom (in any case) Regardless of what has occurred or will occur.
• idiom (in case) If it happens that; if.
• idiom (in case) As a precaution.
• idiom (in case of) If there should happen to be.
• idiom (off (someone's) case) No longer nagging or urging someone to do something.
• idiom (on (someone's) case) Persistently nagging or urging someone to do something.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In the tobacco trade, the state of the leaf, during and after the process of curing, with respect to moisture-content and pliability: common in such phrases as in case (more or less moist), in good case (with the right degree of moisture), too high case, etc. See order, 17.
• noun An action brought, usually by agreement between parties, in which the constitutionality or validity of an act will be brought in question and judicially determined.
• To bring into the desired ‘case’ or condition; specifically, in the tobacco trade, to bring the leaf into the desired condition as to moisture and pliability, and the admixture of ingredients to give flavor, etc. See case, n., 9, *caser, n., and *casing, n. Also spelled in the trade, kase.
• noun In the postal service, a series of open boxes or large pigeonholes in which letters are placed in assorting them for distribution. Each box is for a particular place, and the distributor, standing at a table in a post-office or railway postal car, throws each letter into the proper box in the case.
• noun Nautical, the outside planking of a vessel.
• noun In whaling, the well or hole in the head of a sperm-whale, which contains, in a free state, the most valuable oil given by it.
• noun In faro, a card when it is the only one of its denomination remaining in the dealing-box.
• To cover or surround with a case; surround with any material that incloses or protects; incase.
• Specifically — In architecture, to face or cover (the outside wall of a building) with material of a better quality than that of the wall itself.
• In plastering, to plaster (as a house) with mortar on the outside, and strike a ruler laid on it while moist with the edge of a trowel, so as to mark it with lines resembling the joints of freestone, In glass-making, to “plate” or cover (glass) with a layer of a different color. In bookbinding, to cover with a case. See case, n., 7.
• In printing, to put into the proper compartments of compositors' cases; lay: as, to case a font of type.
• To remove the case or skin of; uncase; skin.
• To cover one's self with something that constitutes a casing.
• To put cases; bring forward propositions.
• noun Literally, that which happens or befalls. Hap; contingency; event; chance.
• noun State; condition; state of circumstances.
• noun A particular determination of events or circumstances; a special state of things coming under a general description or rule.
• noun In medicine, an instance of disease under or requiring medical treatment, or the series of occurrences or symptoms which characterize it: as, the doctor has many cases of fever in hand; the patient explained his case.