'Inns of court' definitions:

Definition of 'Inns of court'

From: GCIDE
  • Inn \Inn\ ([i^]n), n. [AS. in, inn, house, chamber, inn, from AS. in in; akin to Icel. inni house. See In.]
  • 1. A place of shelter; hence, dwelling; habitation; residence; abode. [Obs.] --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
  • Therefore with me ye may take up your inn For this same night. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. A house for the lodging and entertainment of travelers or wayfarers; a tavern; a public house; a hotel. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: As distinguished from a private boarding house, an inn is a house for the entertainment of all travelers of good conduct and means of payment, as guests for a brief period, not as lodgers or boarders by contract. [1913 Webster]
  • The miserable fare and miserable lodgment of a provincial inn. --W. Irving. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. The town residence of a nobleman or distinguished person; as, Leicester Inn. [Eng.] [1913 Webster]
  • 4. One of the colleges (societies or buildings) in London, for students of the law barristers; as, the Inns of Court; the Inns of Chancery; Serjeants' Inns. [1913 Webster]
  • Inns of chancery (Eng.), colleges in which young students formerly began their law studies, now occupied chiefly bp attorn`ys, solocitors, etc.
  • Inns of court (Eng.), the four societies of "students and practicers of the law of England" which in London exercise the exclusive right of admitting persons to practice at the bar; also, the buildings in which the law students and barristers have their chambers. They are the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn, and Gray's Inn. [1913 Webster]