ˈgame-law
[f. game n. + law.]
Usually pl.
Laws enacted for the preservation of game.
| 1714 (title), The Game Law..5th ed. 1769 Blackstone Comm. iv. xxxiii, Though the forest-laws are now mitigated..yet from this root has sprung up a bastard slip known by the name of the game-law. 1823 Syd. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 32 The game laws have been carried to a pitch of oppression which is a disgrace to the country. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Race Wks. (Bohn) II. 32 The severity of the game-laws certainly indicates an extravagant sympathy of the nation with horses and hunters. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. §472 This early game-law was primarily intended to stop the meetings of labourers and artificers. |
| fig. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. (1849) 103 The library was a kind of literary ‘preserve’, subject to game-laws. |