claim
/kleɪm/ noun, verb
Forms claims claiming claimed claimest claimedst claimeth claym
- noun A demand of ownership made for something. “a claim of ownership”
- noun The thing claimed.
- noun The right or ground of demanding. “You don't have any claim on my time, since I'm no longer your employee.”
- noun A new statement of something one believes to be the truth, usually when the statement has yet to be verified or without valid evidence provided. “The company's share price dropped amid claims of accounting fraud.”
- noun A demand of ownership for previously unowned land. “Miners had to stake their claims during the gold rush.”
- noun (law) A legal demand for compensation or damages.
- verb To demand ownership of.
- verb To state a new fact, typically without providing evidence to prove it is true.
- verb To demand ownership or right to use for land.
- verb (law) To demand compensation or damages through the courts.
- verb (intransitive) To be entitled to anything; to deduce a right or title; to have a claim.
- verb To cause the loss of. “The attacks claimed the lives of five people.”
- verb To win as a prize in a sport or competition. “He claimed $100 after winning the top spot.”
- verb (obsolete) To proclaim.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English claimen, borrowed from Old French clamer (“to call, name, send for”), from Latin clāmō, clāmāre (“to call, cry out”), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to shout”), which is imitative.
See also Lithuanian kalba (“language”), Old English hlōwan (“to low, make a noise like a cow”), Old High German halan (“to call”), Ancient Greek καλέω (kaléō, “to call, convoke”), κλέδον (klédon, “report, fame”), κέλαδος (kélados, “noise”), Middle Irish cailech (“cock”), Latin calō (“to call out, announce solemnly”), Sanskrit उषःकल (uṣaḥkala, “cock”, literally “dawn-calling”). Cognate with Spanish llamar and clamar.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To ask for, or seek to obtain, by virtue of authority, right, or supposed right; to challenge as a right; to demand as due.
- verb To proclaim. [Obs.] Spenser.
- verb To be entitled to anything; to deduce a right or title; to have a claim.
- noun A demand of a right or supposed right; a calling on another for something due or supposed to be due; an assertion of a right or fact.
Etymology [OE. clamen, claimen, OF. clamer, fr. L. clamare to cry out, call; akin to calare to proclaim, Gr. kal to sound, G. holen to fetch, E. hale haul.]
Etymology [Of. claim cry, complaint, from clamer. See Claim, v.t.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “claim”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details