GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 4 definitions

1.       
   Cause , n. [F. cause, fr. L. causa. Cf. Cause, v., Kickshaw.]
   That which produces or effects a result; that from which anything proceeds, and without which it would not exist.
   1913 Webster
   Cause is substance exerting its power into act, to make one thing begin to be.
   Locke.
   
   1913 Webster
   That which is the occasion of an action or state; ground; reason; motive; as, cause for rejoicing.
   1913 Webster
   Sake; interest; advantage. [Obs.]
   1913 Webster
   I did it not for his cause.
   2 Cor. vii. 12.
   
   1913 Webster
   (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.
   1913 Webster
   Any subject of discussion or debate; matter; question; affair in general.
   1913 Webster
   What counsel give you in this weighty cause!
   Shak.
   
   1913 Webster
   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.
   1913 Webster
   God befriend us, as our cause is just.
   Shak.
   
   1913 Webster
   The part they take against me is from zeal to the cause.
   Burke.
   
   1913 Webster
   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.
   1913 Webster
   
         
       

2.       
   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.
   1913 Webster
   I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days.
   Gen. vii. 4.
   
   1913 Webster
   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.
   1913 Webster
   
         
       

3.       
   Cause, v. i. To assign or show cause; to give a reason; to make excuse. [Obs.]
   Spenser.
   
   1913 Webster
         
       

4.       
   Cause, conj. Abbreviation of Because.
   B. Jonson.
   
   1913 Webster