CASE

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
case1

▶noun

• 1 an instance of a particular situation; an example of something occurring: a case of mistaken identity.

  ■ the situation affecting or relating to a particular person or thing: I'll make an exception in your case.

  ■ an incident under official investigation by the police.

• 2 an instance of a disease, injury, or problem.

  ■ a person or their particular problem as a subject of medical or welfare attention.

• 3 a legal action, especially one that is to be decided in a court of law.

  ■ a set of facts or arguments supporting one side in such a legal action.

  ■ a legal action that has been decided and may be cited as a precedent.

• 4 a set of facts or arguments supporting one side of a debate or controversy.

• 5 Grammar any of the inflected forms of a noun, adjective, or pronoun that express the semantic relation of the word to other words in the sentence.

  ■ such a relation whether indicated by inflection or not.

– phrases
be the case be so.
on (or off) someone's case informal continually (or no longer) criticizing or harassing someone.

– origin ME: from OFr. cas, from L. casus ‘fall’, rel. to cadere ‘to fall’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
case2

▶noun

• 1 a container designed to hold or protect something.

  ■ the outer protective covering of a natural or manufactured object.

• 2 a suitcase.

• 3 a box containing twelve bottles of wine or other drink, sold as a unit.

• 4 Printing a partitioned container for loose metal type.

  ■ each of the two forms, capital or minuscule, in which a letter of the alphabet may be written or printed.

▶verb

• 1 enclose within a case.

• 2 informal reconnoitre (a place) before carrying out a robbery.

– origin ME: from OFr. casse, chasse (mod. caisse ‘trunk, chest’, châsse ‘reliquary, frame’), from L. capsa, rel. to capere ‘to hold’.