1. [n]  (law) a comprehensive term for any proceeding in a court of law whereby an individual seeks a legal remedy; "the family brought suit against the landlord"
2. [n]  a portable container for carrying several objects; "the musicians left their instrument cases backstage"
3. [n]  a glass container used to store and display items in a shop or museum or home
4. [n]  bed linen consisting of a cover for a pillow; "the burglar carried his loot in a pillowcase"
5. [n]  the enclosing frame around a door or window opening; "the casings had rotted away and had to be replaced"
6. [n]  the housing or outer covering of something; "the clock has a walnut case"
7. [n]  an enveloping structure or covering enclosing an animal or plant organ or part
8. [n]  the actual state of things; "that was not the case"
9. [n]  nouns or pronouns or adjectives (often marked by inflection) related in some way to other words in a sentence
10. [n]  a statement of facts and reasons used to support an argument; "he stated his case clearly"
11. [n]  a problem requiring investigation; "Perry Mason solved the case of the missing heir"
12. [n]  an occurrence of something; "it was a case of bad judgment"; "another instance occurred yesterday"; "but there is always the famous example of the Smiths"
13. [n]  a person requiring professional services; "a typical case was the suburban housewife described by a marriage counselor"
14. [n]  a person of a specified kind (usually with many eccentricities); "a real character"; "a strange character"; "a friendly eccentric"; "the capable type"; "a mental case"
15. [n]  a person who is subjected to experimental or other observational procedures; someone who is an object of investigation; "the subjects for this investigation were selected randomly"; "the cases that we studied were drawn from two different communities"
16. [n]  the quantity contained in a case
17. [n]  a special set of circumstances; "in that event, the first possibility is excluded"; "it may rain in which case the picnic will be canceled"
18. [n]  a specific state of mind that is temporary; "a case of the jitters"
19. [v]  enclose in, or as if in, a case"my feet were encased in mud."
20. [v]  look over, usually with the intention to rob; "They men cased the housed"

Case
Case

more details ...

1. \Case\ (k[=a]s), n. [OF. casse, F. caisse (cf. It. cassa),
   fr. L. capsa chest, box, case, fr. capere to take, hold. See
   {Capacious}, and cf. 4th {Chase}, {Cash}, {Enchase}, 3d
   {Sash}.]
   1. A box, sheath, or covering; as, a case for holding goods;
      a case for spectacles; the case of a watch; the case
      (capsule) of a cartridge; a case (cover) for a book.
   2. A box and its contents; the quantity contained in a box;
      as, a case of goods; a case of instruments.
   3. (Print.) A shallow tray divided into compartments or
      ``boxes'' for holding type.
   Note: Cases for type are usually arranged in sets of two,
         called respectively the upper and the lower case. The
         {upper case} contains capitals, small capitals,
         accented and marked letters, fractions, and marks of
         reference: the {lower case} contains the small letters,
         figures, marks of punctuation, quadrats, and spaces.
   4. An inclosing frame; a casing; as, a door case; a window
      case.
   5. (Mining) A small fissure which admits water to the
      workings. --Knight.
   

2. \Case\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Cased}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Casing}.]
   1. To cover or protect with, or as with, a case; to inclose.
            The man who, cased in steel, had passed whole days
            and nights in the saddle.             --Prescott.
   2. To strip the skin from; as, to case a box. [Obs.]
   

3. \Case\, n. [F. cas, fr. L. casus, fr. cadere to fall, to
   happen. Cf. {Chance}.]
   1. Chance; accident; hap; opportunity. [Obs.]
            By aventure, or sort, or cas.         --Chaucer.
   2. That which befalls, comes, or happens; an event; an
      instance; a circumstance, or all the circumstances;
      condition; state of things; affair; as, a strange case; a
      case of injustice; the case of the Indian tribes.
            In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge.
                                                  --Deut. xxiv.
                                                  13.
            If the case of the man be so with his wife. --Matt.
                                                  xix. 10.
            And when a lady's in the case You know all other
            things give place.                    --Gay.
            You think this madness but a common case. --Pope.
            I am in case to justle a constable,   --Shak.
   3. (Med. & Surg.) A patient under treatment; an instance of
      sickness or injury; as, ten cases of fever; also, the
      history of a disease or injury.
            A proper remedy in hypochondriacal cases.
                                                  --Arbuthnot.
   4. (Law) The matters of fact or conditions involved in a
      suit, as distinguished from the questions of law; a suit
      or action at law; a cause.
            Let us consider the reason of the case, for nothing
            is law that is not reason.            --Sir John
                                                  Powell.
            Not one case in the reports of our courts. --Steele.
   5. (Gram.) One of the forms, or the inflections or changes of
      form, of a noun, pronoun, or adjective, which indicate its
      relation to other words, and in the aggregate constitute
      its declension; the relation which a noun or pronoun
      sustains to some other word.
            Case is properly a falling off from the nominative
            or first state of word; the name for which, however,
            is now, by extension of its signification, applied
            also to the nominative.               --J. W. Gibbs.
   Note: Cases other than the nominative are oblique cases. Case
         endings are terminations by which certain cases are
         distinguished. In old English, as in Latin, nouns had
         several cases distinguished by case endings, but in
         modern English only that of the possessive case is
         retained.
   {Action on the case} (Law), according to the old
      classification (now obsolete), was an action for redress
      of wrongs or injuries to person or property not specially
      provided against by law, in which the whole cause of
      complaint was set out in the writ; -- called also
      {trespass on the case}, or simply {case}.
   {All a case}, a matter of indifference. [Obs.] ``It is all a
      case to me.'' --L'Estrange.
   {Case at bar}. See under {Bar}, n.
   {Case divinity}, casuistry.
   {Case lawyer}, one versed in the reports of cases rather than
      in the science of the law.
   {Case} {stated or agreed on} (Law), a statement in writing of
      facts agreed on and submitted to the court for a decision
      of the legal points arising on them.
   {A hard case}, an abandoned or incorrigible person. [Colloq.]
   {In any case}, whatever may be the state of affairs; anyhow.
   {In case}, or {In case that}, if; supposing that; in the
      event or contingency; if it should happen that. ``In case
      we are surprised, keep by me.'' --W. Irving.
   {In good case}, in good condition, health, or state of body.
   {To put a case}, to suppose a hypothetical or illustrative
      case.
   Syn: Situation, condition, state; circumstances; plight;
        predicament; occurrence; contingency; accident; event;
        conjuncture; cause; action; suit.
   

4. \Case\, v. i.
   To propose hypothetical cases. [Obs.] ``Casing upon the
   matter.'' --L'Estrange.
   

1. 1. Computer Aided Software Engineering.

   2. Common Application Service Element.

2. 1. switch statement.

   2. Whether a character is a capital letter ("upper case" - ABC..Z) or a small letter ("lower case" - abc..z).

   The term case comes from the printing trade when the use of moving type was invented in the early Middle Ages (Caxton or Gutenberg?) and the letters for each font were stored in a box with two sections (or "cases"), the upper case was for the capital letters and the lower case was for the small letters. The Oxford Universal Dictionary of Historical Principles (Feb 1993, reprinted 1952) indicates that this usage of "case" (as the box or frame used by a compositor in the printing trade) was first used in 1588.