STAR-CHAMBER

Definition: STAR-CHAMBER

STAR-CHAMBER

Noun

1. An ancient high court exercising jurisdiction in certain cases, mainly criminal, which sat without the intervention of a jury. It consisted of the king's council, or of the privy council only with the addition of certain judges. It could proceed on mere rumor or examine witnesses; it could apply torture. It was abolished by the Long Parliament in 1641.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Date "STAR-CHAMBER" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1824. (references)

Etymology: Star-chamber \Star"-cham`ber\, noun. [So called (as conjectured by Blackstone) from being held in room at the Exchequer where the chests containing certain Jewish comtracts and obligations called starrs (from the Hebrew shetar, pronoun shtar) were kept; or from the stars with which the ceiling is supposed to have been decorated.]. (Websters 1913)

Chinese 

星分庭. (various references)

Korean 

별 약실. (various references)

Pig Latin

ar-chamberstay

Russian 

тайное судопроизводство (star-chamber proceedings). (various references)

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-2 letters: crabmeats.

-3 letters: abreacts, batchers, bearcats, becharms, brachets, brechams, cabarets, cabresta, catarrhs, chambers, charmers, charters, crabmeat, marchers, marchesa, matchers, recharts, schemata, tracheas, tramcars.

-4 letters: abaters, abreact, abreast, ambsace, amtracs, archers, armrest, barrets, barters, batcher, batches, bathers, bearcat, becharm, berthas, bracers, braches, brachet, brahmas, brasher, breaths, brecham, cabaret, cambers, cameras, carates, carters, catarrh, chamber, charmer.