1A tribunal presided over by a judge, judges, or a magistrate in civil and criminal cases.

1. 1.1 The place where a court meets.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • A man who attacked a prison officer while in a court dock has been jailed for three months.
   • He also said that the security measures in the court buildings would be tightened.
   • There would also be increased armed protection of possible targets, including barriers at government offices, courts and other sensitive buildings.
   • In the escort service, the police's main role was to supervise the transfer of remand prisoners between police stations and courts.
   • The teenager hid his face from the media when he was released from the back of the court building and taken away by police.
   • The three men thanked jurors individually as the 11 women and one man left the court building, then they went off to celebrate.
   • Wiltshire County Council closed the courts building in the mid-1980s and sold it off to a local property development company, Davis and Dyke.
   • Visits to police stations, jails, courts and offices of the Human Rights Commission and Women's Commission will be part of the functions.
   • Fed-up court officials refused to accept prisoners after they were brought to the court building late.
   • The temperature in the rooms of the court building is usually set as low as 16 degrees Celsius.
   • He parked his Honda in the Bridge Street car park, close to the court building, but a delay in the case slowed his return by more than an hour.
   • Eight are held in a new prison complex next to the court buildings.
   • Scores of journalists, mainly Spanish and British, converged on the court building.
   • It was at this point it became apparent that the case was about to collapse - although the jury was not even in the court building.
   • More than 500 people have visited the hall during a series of open days and given their views on what the Grade II listed building and former courts should be used for.
   • Following the announcement of the court's decision, violence erupted outside the court building.
   • A man who tried to enter a court building with a knife may be sent to prison.
   • Police said a man suspected of trying to attack Burrell in the court building's foyer was arrested.
   • I met Catherine at the courts after lunch, both of us dreading the hours of grading and drills.
2. 1.2the court The judge or judges presiding at a court.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • A minimum of 60 ratifications is required to establish the 18-judge court at The Hague.

2A quadrangular area, either open or covered, marked out for ball games such as tennis or basketball.

1. 2.1 A quadrangular area surrounded by a building or group of buildings.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • The most important room on view is the Harem, a compound of around 300 shining tiled chambers on several levels, connected by arcaded courts and fountain gardens.
   • Surrounded by a broad moat, the palace buildings are arranged around a great inner court.
   • Traditional Cambridge colleges, modelled on monastic cloisters, consist of courts surrounded by walls of individual rooms.
   • Vaulted archways lead to shaded courts, while gardens surround the buildings on all sides.
   • A court surrounded by a wall of individual rooms was the generating idea of the building.
   • The rhythm of its open colonnade is echoed in that of the hall across the court.
   • The idea is for a public museum to open in the old police station, cells and Victorian court in the historic Grade I listed building.
   • The sun shone brightly through the spreading leaves of the oak trees that surrounded the court.

   Synonyms

   yard, courtyard, quadrangle, square, close, enclosure, precinct, esplanade
2. 2.2 A subdivision of a building, usually a large hall extending to the ceiling with galleries and staircases.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • One treks through labyrinthine passages to discrete galleries and courts, even to the stacks and aisles of the Carnegie Library within the complex.
   • The museum comprises a torso of galleries linked to a smaller head of entrance court and offices.
   • When visitors now enter the building the vista continues across the daylit central court into the rear garden.

3The establishment, retinue, and courtiers of a sovereign.

1. 3.1 A sovereign and his or her councilors, constituting a ruling power.
   relations between the king and the imperial court

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The expansion of trade along the Thames, and the broadening power of the royal court led to a London property boom.
   • The palace courts, whose rulers were in close contact with one another, played a critical role in military and diplomatic interactions.
   • He was a leading figure at the courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII.
   • Leonardo clearly believed that wealth, patronage, and political power lay in the courts to the east of mainland Europe.
   • The court surrounded and, to some extent, protected the ruler.
   • A year later, just 25, he was sent to the Tsarist court as British Vice-Consul to Moscow.
   • There he stood, bowing politely like a grand Lord at the court of an Empress.
   • The figure on the right is Jean de Dinteville, the French ambassador to the English court of Henry VIII.
   • They also transacted business for the imperial court and were awarded ranks and privileges.
   • Bismarck rushed from Paris, where he represented Prussia at the court of Napoleon III.
   • The king had been surrounded by a hostile court, treated badly, and kept from exercising power.
   • Chandu Shah, a Banker of Delhi, wielded a lot of influence at the Mughal court.
   • Provincial life was left to the dominance of the ennobled office-holders of the sovereign courts.
   • Though the aristocracy had been abolished by his father, Reza, the shah had reintroduced a court largely without titles.
   • The court and the royal entourage were the great centres of power.
2. 3.2 A sovereign's residence.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • Winter passed swiftly in the court of Charlemagne, for there was never any lack of amusements.
   • The re-established papacy soon transferred its court to the Vatican Palace.
   • Delicacies such as kebabs and curries that were introduced to royal courts by the Moghuls have now been woven into the local cuisine.
   • Red deer, along with various wildfowl and fish, were all important elements in the menus of the royal court of Henry VIII.
   • He also continued his law career taking up residence at the courts of Mainz before 1670.
   • Europe was impressed by the splendours of the court of Versailles.

   Synonyms

   royal residence, palace, castle, manor, hall

1Be involved with romantically, typically with the intention of marrying.

1. 1.1 (of a male bird or other animal) try to attract (a mate).
   Example sentencesExamples

   • Smaller groups usually consist of an unmated female courted by unmated males.
   • After the female moults the male then comes and courts the female and then deposits a spermatophore.
   • Along the way, the birds court and mate, thwart the red-tailed hawks, and breed.
   • Males of both species readily courted females of both species.
   • Two percent of male ostriches ignore females and instead court other males with a lively dance.
2. 1.2 Pay special attention to (someone) in an attempt to win their support or favor.
   Western politicians courted the leaders of the newly independent states

   Example sentencesExamples

   • All the celebrity magazines have their stable of favourites, whom they court with pages and pages of glowing copy week in, week out.
   • he has been actively courting trust members and numerous wealthy supporters of the team in recent days.
   • In the early 1900s political parties courted the new immigrants, he said.
   • The heritage is authentic: while the opportunist ploughboy was penning those lines, he was also courting the favour of every belted earl in the peerage.
   • He had hoped to challenge her by courting black voters, but their support is split.
   • A politician in her own right, she was courted by the Republicans to run for her late husband's senate seat.
   • They are openly courting the favours of imperialism.
   • No politician will come courting us until I can say that we have several hundred thousand members.
   • That is precisely the issue that has been raised by the National Party in its attempt to try to court votes.
   • Now they've got the world's attention and are courted by the media and politicians.
   • More displays like last night's will court him no favours in Detroit or elsewhere.
   • Since joining the party on a promise of a junior ministerial post, he has assiduously courted his parliamentary colleagues and concentrated on building a support base among the membership.
   • Their cowardly producers make a big deal out of courting our support and money, but they never deliver the goods.
   • I half-expected him to give each manatee a friendly slap across the back, he reminded me so much of a local politician courting his constituents.
   • A spokesman denied the archbishop's action was a deliberate attempt to court conservative Catholics.
   • Central governments have courted them for support or tried to crush them.
   • Conner had been the first, albeit a bit unknowingly, to come to the castle in an attempt to court her.
   • It is not, however, the job of a leader to court popularity, and certainly not in the complex area of drugs.
   • He has said nothing about the Republicans' actions in the election campaign because he does not want to alienate right-wing forces whose support he is courting.
   • It has been decades since other world leaders have courted a pope so assiduously.
   • Even that campaign, which has benefited most from the anti-war position, has made no special attempt at courting the anti-globalization coalition.

   Synonyms

   curry favour with, make up to, play up to
3. 1.3 Go to great lengths to win (favorable attention)
   he never had to court the approval of the political elite

   Example sentencesExamples

   • But let's not forget that she courted attention herself.
   • If you have courted public attention then you have less ground to object to the intrusion which follows.
   • He studied Italian grammar to win the approval of the major in the hospital and courted the favor of Captain Paravicini.
   • Publicity is not something he courts, the only recognition that really matters to him comes from those within the game.
   • He has never courted approval, least of all affection, but has continued to stare straight ahead with his own goals always in view, to be attained in his way.
   • It is he, not the Prime Minister, who must court attention ostentatiously.
   • The financial group is also courting foreign strategic investment from an assortment of overseas institutions.
   • Well, these bags have been courting attention this past fortnight or so.
   • There was a time when controversy was never far from the all-rounder's door, though it was not courted deliberately.
   • Although noted for an ability to work outdoors amid crowds of spectators, he never courted attention.
   • Although happy to be given the retrospective collection, she didn't court the attention.
   • A legal battle with those he has worked hard to court in the past?
   • Having got their break, it wasn't long before the band was courting the attention of the Radio 1 DJ, who quickly got them in for a live session.

   Synonyms

   seek, try to obtain, pursue, go after, strive for, go for, push towards, work towards, be intent on, aim at, aim for, have as a goal, have as an objective, aspire to
4. 1.4 Risk incurring (misfortune) because of the way one behaves.
   he has often courted controversy

   Example sentencesExamples

   • In trying to persuade the audience of a perspective that could be viewed as favourable to Maori, he courts the risk of being judged as partial, radical or extreme.
   • While traditionally rewarding, investing in shares courts risk.
   • In his early years he was not averse to courting controversy and he played a major role in the Language Freedom Movement in the 1960s, which campaigned against compulsory Irish in schools.
   • My feeling, swallowing sour grapes and all, is that he was probably courting controversy, and blog inches, in choosing a postmodern conceptual/performance artist.
   • The drug helps narcoleptics stay awake, but has courted controversy as the remedy of choice for jetsetters whose multi-timezone lifestyles get them down.
   • This is referred to as ‘deliberately courting the risk’.
   • Recognised by critics as one of the most important talents in Scottish theatre, he has courted controversy with his subject matter and style.
   • That said, his maverick tendencies are becoming almost a trademark of the man, and I'd wager a punt or two that he'll be courting controversy again before we next go to the polls.
   • They have also courted controversy, particularly over the infamous deep-fat fryer scene.
   • But public service broadcasting is about making mistakes, taking risks and courting unpopularity.
   • Her studies of pubescent girls and her pictures of her own children in provocative poses have courted controversy wherever they have been shown.
   • Though I knew I would be courting health risks, I decided there was only one way to find out: try it myself, and see what it did.
   • However, I think I am hardly courting controversy if I say he is no oil painting.
   • He had a vision, and he courted peril in his attempt to take his dreams to market.
   • The size and volume of forms and the amount of tax law an individual is expected to comprehend courts the risk that tax evasion will see a quantum leap.
   • So he courted his own fate, he was tricked by an extremely sophisticated ruse and met his death.
   • The group has courted controversy from the start.
   • They knew we had courted arrest and had no intentions of escaping.
   • Only by courting controversy has she managed to enjoy the halogen warmth of media attention.
   • He refused to return to Napoli and moved back to Spain and then Argentina for a largely anonymous spell, before courting controversy again in another World Cup USA 1994.

   Synonyms

   risk, invite, attract, provoke, be likely to cause, bring on oneself