lawed

Verb

law (third-person singular simple present laws, present participle lawing, simple past and past participle lawed)

1. (obsolete) To work as a lawyer; to practice law.
   • That was in 1877 you were lawing with Herdick?1889, New York (State). Court of Appeals, New York Court of Appeals. Records and Briefs, page 71
2. (ambitransitive, dialectal) To prosecute or sue (someone), to litigate.
   • Your husband's … so given to lawing, they say. I doubt he'll leave you poorly off when he dies.1860, George Eliot (Mary Anne Lewes), The Mill on the Floss
3. (nonstandard) To rule over (with a certain effect) by law; to govern.
   • At its 1933 session, the Kansas legislature provided for funding outstanding bills and floating debts of those cities which could not make payment by a fixed date. By this stroke of its imagination, the legislature lawed all Kansas cities onto a "cash" basis and admonished them to stay there.1939, Henry Green Hodges, City management: theory and practice of municipal administration
4. (informal) To enforce the law.
   • De gram jury lawed me all de time an' dat place got too hot.1918, Eldred Kurtz Means, E.K. Means, page 50
5. To subject to legal restrictions.
   • Insurance may fairly be said to head the list of objects of legislative interference. It has been lawed and lawed until it is nearly outlawed, and the cry for more continues to go up unsatisfied1895, The Chronicle - Volumes 55-56, page 125

See all 38 meanings of law

Verb

lawe (third-person singular simple present lawes, present participle lawing, simple past and past participle lawed)

1. (transitive) To cut off the claws and balls of (e.g. a dog's forefeet, to hinder it from hunting).
   • They were enveloped in forms, and easily evaded ; like a lawed dog, too mutilated to catch their game.1808, William Gilpin, Remarks on forest scenery, and other woodland views