GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English
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Found 4 definitions
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Cause (ka̤z), n. [F. cause, fr. L. causa. Cf. Cause, v., Kickshaw.]
1. That which produces or effects a result; that from which anything proceeds, and without which it would not exist.
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Cause is substance exerting its power into act, to make one thing begin to be. Locke.
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2. That which is the occasion of an action or state; ground; reason; motive; as, “cause for rejoicing”.
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3. Sake; interest; advantage. [Obs.]
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I did it not for his cause. 2 Cor. vii. 12.
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4. (Law) A suit or action in court; any legal process by which a party endeavors to obtain his claim, or what he regards as his right; case; ground of action.
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5. Any subject of discussion or debate; matter; question; affair in general.
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What counsel give you in this weighty cause! Shak.
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6. The side of a question, which is espoused, advocated, and upheld by a person or party; a principle which is advocated; that which a person or party seeks to attain.
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God befriend us, as our cause is just. Shak.
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The part they take against me is from zeal to the cause. Burke.
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Efficient cause, the agent or force that produces a change or result. -- Final cause, the end, design, or object, for which anything is done. -- Formal cause, the elements of a conception which make the conception or the thing conceived to be what it is; or the idea viewed as a formative principle and cooperating with the matter. -- Material cause, that of which anything is made. -- Proximate cause. See under Proximate. -- To make common cause with, to join with in purposes and aims. Macaulay.
Syn. -- Origin; source; mainspring; motive; reason; incitement; inducement; purpose; object; suit; action.
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Cause, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Caused (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Causing.] [F. causer, fr. cause, fr. L. causa. See Cause, n., and cf. Acouse.] To effect as an agent; to produce; to be the occasion of; to bring about; to bring into existence; to make; -- usually followed by an infinitive, sometimes by that with a finite verb.
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I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days. Gen. vii. 4.
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Cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans. Col. iv. 16.
Syn. -- To create; produce; beget; effect; occasion; originate; induce; bring about.
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Cause, v. i. To assign or show cause; to give a reason; to make excuse. [Obs.] Spenser.
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Cause, conj. Abbreviation of Because. B. Jonson.
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