Course - Dictionary Definition and Overview

Course :  (noun)
1: education imparted in a series of lessons or class meetings; "he took a course in basket weaving"; "flirting is not unknown in college classes" [syn: course of study, course of instruction, class]
2: a connected series of events or actions or developments; "the government took a firm course"; "historians can only point out those lines for which evidence is available" [syn: line]
3: facility consisting of a circumscribed area of land or water laid out for a sport; "the course had only nine holes"; "the course was less than a mile"
4: a mode of action; "if you persist in that course you will surely fail"; "once a nation is embarked on a course of action it becomes extremely difficult for any retraction to take place" [syn: course of action]
5: a line or route along which something travels or moves; "the hurricane demolished houses in its path"; "the track of an animal"; "the course of the river" [syn: path, track]
6: general line of orientation; "the river takes a southern course"; "the northeastern trend of the coast" [syn: trend]
7: part of a meal served at one time; "she prepared a three course meal"
8: (construction) a layer of masonry; "a course of bricks" [syn: row] adv : as might be expected; "naturally, the lawyer sent us a huge bill" [syn: naturally, of course] [ant: unnaturally] (verb)
1: move swiftly through or over; "ships coursing the Atlantic"
2: move along, of liquids; "Water flowed into the cave"; "the Missouri feeds into the Mississippi" [syn: run, flow, feed]
3: hunt with hounds; "He often courses hares"

Based on WordNet 2.0

Course : \Course\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Coursed (k?rst)); p. pr. & vb. n. Coursing.] 1. To run, hunt, or chase after; to follow hard upon; to pursue.

We coursed him at the heels. --Shak.

2. To cause to chase after or pursue game; as, to course greyhounds after deer.

3. To run through or over.

The bounding steed courses the dusty plain. --Pope.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Course : \Course\ (k?rs), n. [F. cours, course, L. cursus, fr. currere to run. See Current.] 1. The act of moving from one point to another; progress; passage.

And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais. --Acts xxi. 7.

2. The ground or path traversed; track; way.

The same horse also run the round course at Newmarket. --Pennant.

3. Motion, considered as to its general or resultant direction or to its goal; line progress or advance.

A light by which the Argive squadron steers Their silent course to Ilium's well known shore. --Dennham.

Westward the course of empire takes its way. --Berkeley.

4. Progress from point to point without change of direction; any part of a progress from one place to another, which is in a straight line, or on one direction; as, a ship in a long voyage makes many courses; a course measured by a surveyor between two stations; also, a progress without interruption or rest; a heat; as, one course of a race.

5. Motion considered with reference to manner; or derly progress; procedure in a certain line of thought or action; as, the course of an argument.

The course of true love never did run smooth. --Shak.

6. Customary or established sequence of events; recurrence of events according to natural laws.

By course of nature and of law. --Davies.

Day and night, Seedtime and harvest, heat and hoary frost, Shall hold their course. --Milton.

7. Method of procedure; manner or way of conducting; conduct; behavior.

My lord of York commends the plot and the general course of the action. --Shak.

By perseverance in the course prescribed. --Wodsworth.

You hold your course without remorse. --Tennyson.

8. A series of motions or acts arranged in order; a succession of acts or practices connectedly followed; as, a course of medicine; a course of lectures on chemistry.

9. The succession of one to another in office or duty; order; turn.

He appointed . . . the courses of the priests --2 Chron. viii. 14.

10. That part of a meal served at one time, with its accompaniments.

He [Goldsmith] wore fine clothes, gave dinners of several courses, paid court to venal beauties. --Macaulay.

11. (Arch.) A continuous level range of brick or stones of the same height throughout the face or faces of a building. --Gwilt.

12. (Naut.) The lowest sail on any mast of a square-rigged vessel; as, the fore course, main course, etc.

13. pl. (Physiol.) The menses.

In course, in regular succession.

Of course, by consequence; as a matter of course; in regular or natural order.

In the course of, at same time or times during. ``In the course of human events.'' --T. Jefferson.

Syn: Way; road; route; passage; race; series; succession; manner; method; mode; career; progress.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Course : \Course\, v. i. 1. To run as in a race, or in hunting; to pursue the sport of coursing; as, the sportsmen coursed over the flats of Lancashire.

2. To move with speed; to race; as, the blood courses through the veins. --Shak.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

COURSE. The direction in which a line runs in surveying. 2. When there are no monuments, (q.v.) the land must be bounded by the courses and distances mentioned in the patent or deed. 4 Wheat. 444; 3 Pet. 96; 3 Murph. 82; 2 Har. & John. 267; 5 Har. & John. 254. When the lines are actually marked, they must be adhered to, though they vary from theCourse :  mentioned in the deeds. 2 Overt. 304; 7 Wheat. 7. 1 See 3 Call, 239 7 Mont. 333. Vide Boundary; Line.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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