Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A wrong that is committed by someone who is legally obligated to provide a certain amount of carefulness in behavior to another and that causes injury to that person, who may seek compensation in a civil suit for damages.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Tart; sharp.
  • An erroneous form of taut, simulating tort.
  • noun A cake. Compare tart and torta.
  • A Middle English form of toward.
  • noun A candle; a light.
  • noun A twisting, wrenching, or racking; a griping.
  • noun Wrong; injustice; harm.
  • noun In law, a wrong such as the law requires compensation for in damages; an infringement or privation of the private or civil rights of a person considered as a private person or an owner. The same act considered in its relation to the state may be a crime.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete Mischief; injury; calamity.
  • noun (Law) Any civil wrong or injury; a wrongful act (not involving a breach of contract) for which an action will lie; a form of action, in some parts of the United States, for a wrong or injury.
  • noun See under Executor.
  • noun (Law) a wrongdoer; a trespasser.
  • adjective rare Stretched tight; taut.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective obsolete Stretched tight; taut.
  • adjective Tart, sharp.
  • noun this sense?) (plural, torts) The area of law dealing with such wrongful acts.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (law) any wrongdoing for which an action for damages may be brought

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, injury, from Old French, from Medieval Latin tortum, from Latin, neuter past participle of torquēre, to twist; see terkw- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Dialectal variation of tart.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French tort.

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