Definition of Custody

1. Noun. A state of being confined (usually for a short time). "He is in the custody of police"

Exact synonyms: Detainment, Detention, Hold
Generic synonyms: Confinement
Derivative terms: Detain, Hold

2. Noun. Holding by the police. "The suspect is in custody"
Generic synonyms: Imprisonment, Internment

3. Noun. (with 'in') guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child. "The mother was awarded custody of the children"
Exact synonyms: Hands
Generic synonyms: Guardianship, Keeping, Safekeeping
Derivative terms: Custodial

Definition of Custody

1. n. A keeping or guarding; care, watch, inspection, for keeping, preservation, or security.

Definition of Custody

1. Noun. The legal right to take care of something or somebody, especially children. ¹

2. Noun. Temporary possession or care of somebody else's property. ¹

3. Noun. The state of being imprisoned or detained, usually pending a trial. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Custody

1. guardianship [n -DIES] - See also: guardianship

Lexicographical Neighbors of Custody

custocks
custode
custodes
custodes regni
custodia
custodial
custodial account
custodial care
custodian
custodians
custodianship
custodianships
custodier
custodiers
custodies
custody (current term)
custody battle
custody case
custom
custom-built
custom-made
custom-make
custom house
custom houses
custom made
customable
customableness
customably
customaries
customarily

Literary usage of Custody

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. South Eastern Reporter by West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, West Publishing Company, South Carolina Supreme Court (1922)
"The controversy In the present case is over the possession and custody of the ... It appears from the record that, while the children were in the custody of ..."

2. United States Supreme Court Reports by Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company, United States Supreme Court (1890)
"... But whether the diverse citizenship of laws or treaties of the United States and is parties contesting this right to the custody not dependent on them. ..."

3. Commentaries on the Laws of England by William Blackstone, William Carey Jones (1915)
"custody of idiots and lunatics.—I proceed, therefore, to the eighteenth and last ... For which reason the custody of I303! him and of his lands was formerly ..."

4. Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery: During by Great Britain Court of Chancery, Edward Thurlow Thurlow, Alexander Wedderburn Rosslyn, Jonathan Cogswell Perkins (1844)
"Order that the Master may proceed on exceptions to on answer put in by a person in custody for want of an answer, de die in diem, but the defendant cannot ..."

5. Dictionary of National Biography by LESLIE. STEPHEN (1899)
"On 6 Sept, following he was handed over to the custody of Grindal, bishop of London, because of the plague, and a month later was transferred to the keeping ..."

6. Commentaries on American Law by James Kent (1873)
"The severity of the rule in the English courts of law, that the father has an absolute control over the custody of his infant child, however young, ..."

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