legal

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin lēgālis (“legal”), from lēx (“law”). Doublet of loyal and leal.

adj

1. Relating to the law or to lawyers.
   According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle. 2013-06-08, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55
   legal profession
2. Having its basis in the law.
   legal precedent
3. Being allowed or prescribed by law.
   After 50 years, legal segregation is a distant memory, and race in America is not the unbridgeable chasm it once was. The country has a black president. The sort of comity that King evoked, in which the descendants of slaves and of slave owners “sit down together at the table of brotherhood”, can be found in many places, including the Deep South. The rate of marriage between blacks and whites is rising. 2013-08-23, “Waking life”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8850
   legal motion
4. Following the rules or syntax of a system, such as a game or a programming language.
   If you have no legal move, but are not in check the game is a draw.
   Programming languages are designed so that each legal program has exactly one meaning 2021, John V. Guttag, Introduction to Computation and Programming Using Python, Third Edition, page 7
5. (informal) Above the age of consent or the legal drinking age.
6. (US, Canada) (of paper or document layouts) Measuring 8½ in × 14 in (215.9 mm × 355.6 mm) (also legal-size).

noun

1. (uncountable, informal) The legal department of a company.
   Legal wants this in writing.
2. (uncountable, US, Canada) Paper in sheets 8½ in × 14 in (215.9 mm × 355.6 mm).
3. (countable) A spy who is attached to, and ostensibly employed by, an embassy, military outpost, etc.
4. (countable, informal, US) Somebody who immigrated lawfully.