n. A rule of action prescribed by authority, especially by a sovereign or by the state: as, the laws of Manu; a law of God.n. Specifically— Any written or positive rule, or collection of rules, prescribed under the authority of the state or nation, whether by the people in its constitution, as the organic law, or by the legislature in its statute law, or by the treaty-making power, or by municipalities in their ordinances or by-laws.n. An act of the supreme legislative body of a state or nation, as distinguished from the constitution: as, the constitution, and the laws made in pursuance thereof.n. In a more general sense, the profession or vocation of attorneys, counsellors, solicitors, conveyancers, etc.: as, to practise law.n. Litigation: as, to go to law.n. Collectively, a system or collection of such rules.n. The Mosaic system of rules and ordinances.n. Hence— The books of the Bible containing this system; the books of the law.n. The preceptive part of the Bible, especially of the New-Testament, in contradistinction to its promises.n. A proposition which expresses the constant or regular order of certain phenomena, or the constant mode of action of a force; a general formula or rule to which all things, or all things or phenomena within the limits of a certain class or group, conform, precisely and without exception; a rule to which events really tend to conform.n. One of the rules or principles by which anything is regulated: as, the laws of the turf; the laws of versification.n. A rule according to which anything is produced: as, the mathematical law of a curve.n. An allowance in distance or time granted to an animal in a chase, or to a weaker competitor in a race or other contest; permission given to one competitor to start a certain distance ahead of, or a certain time before, another, in order to equalize the chances of winning.n. Custom; manner.n. that the quantity of an electrolyte decomposed in a given time is proportional to the strength of the current;n. that the weights of the elements separated are proportional to their chemical equivalents; andn. that the strength of the electrolytic action is the same for cells in any part of the same circuit.n. Aryan (Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, etc.).n. low German (Gothic, Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon, English, etc.).n. High German (Old High German, Middle High German, New High German). For example, Skt. pitri (pitar) = Gr. patēr = Latin pater = Goth. fadar = OHG. vatar = English father; Skt. tvam = Gr. τύ = Latin tu = Goth, thu = OHG. du - E. thou; Skt. jānu (for *gānu) = Gr. γόνυ = Latin genu = Goth, kniu = OHG. chniu, chneo = English knee, etc. In the application of Grimm's law numerous in consistencies and anomalies appear, due to interference, conformation, particular position or sequence of sounds, variations of accent, and other causes explained by other philological laws, or remaining in small part occult. The most important of these other laws is Verner's law (which see, below). See also the articles on the separate letters.n. The orbits of the planets are ellipses having the sun at one focus.n. The areas described by their radiivectores in equal times are equal.n. The squares of their periodic times are proportional to the cubes of their mean distances from the sun.n. At any junction-point in a network of conductors the sum of all the currents which flow toward the junction is equal to the sum of all the currents which flow away from the junction (called the condition of continuity).n. In any complete electric circuit the sum of the electromotive forces, reckoned in order round the circuit, is equal to the sum of the products of the current through and the resistance of each conductor forming the circuit.n. The established law of a country.n. More specifically, a law relating directly to the raising of the income of the government, as distinguished from one incidentally imposing fees, etc.n. Synonyms Right, Equity, etc. (see justice); Law, Common Law, Statute, Enactment, Edict, Decree, Ordinance, Regulation, Canon. Law is the generic word, covering not only what is commanded by competent authority, but modes of action and orders of sequence: as, the Salic law; a law of rhetoric or logic; a law of nature; a law of character. Common law is that rule of action which has grown up from old usage and the decisions of judges. Statutes and enactments are laws made by legislative bodies; the slight difference between them is implied in their derivations. Edicts and decrees, on the other hand, are not legislative, but personal or executive acts, an edict being generally the command of a sovereign, and especially of an autocrat, while a decree is generally the order of an executive body or a court. Ordinance is very broad in its use, being applied to statutes (especially those of great importance: as, the ordinance of 1787), to decrees, to the local laws passed by city governments, etc. A regulation is a limited, subordinate, or temporary law or rule, perhaps applying to details of management or behavior, and often without expressed penalty for violation: as, army regulations; the regulations in a constitution. Canon is in this connection strictly an ecclesiastical term.To make a law; ordain.To apply the law to; enforce the law against.To give law to; regulate; determine.In old English forest usage, to cut off the claws and balls of the fore feet of (a dog); mutilate the feet of, as a dog; expeditate.To go to law; litigate.To Study law.An obsolete or dialectal (Scotch) form of low.n. A dialectal form of low.A variation of la, or often of lord. Also laws.n. In acoustics, the law that “any vibrational motion of the air in the entrance to the ear, corresponding to a musical tone, may be always, and for each case only in a single way, exhibited as the sum of a number of simple vibrational motions, corresponding to the partials of this musical tone.”n. Same as Kelvin's law.