chancery

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a court with jurisdiction in equity
  2. noun an office of archives for public or ecclesiastic records; a court of public records

Etymology

From French chancellerie, from Late Latin cancellaria, from Latin cancellarius, from Latin cancellus (“lattice”) (English chancel), from Latin cancelli (“grating, bars”), from the lattice-work that separated a section of a church or court. See related chancellor and chancellery, and the more distantly related incarcerate (“put behind bars”), from carcer (“prison”). The adverbial form is an allusion to the condition of a person involved in the chancery court.

In classic literature

Synonyms

court of chancery

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