[3] Indexes, when pointers or tables of contents are meant: indices,
when referring to algebraic quantities.
CASE.
Case, when applied to nouns and pronouns, means the different state,
situation, or position they have in relation to other words. Nouns have
three cases, the nominative, the possessive, and the objective.
I deem the essential qualities of _case_, in English, to consist, not in
the _changes_ or _inflections_ produced on nouns and pronouns, but in
the various offices which they perform in a sentence, by assuming
different positions in regard to other words. In accordance with this
definition, these cases can be easily explained on reasoning
principles, founded in the nature of things.
Now, five grains of common sense will enable any one to comprehend what
is meant by case. Its real character is extremely simple; but in the
different grammars it assumes as many meanings as Proteus had shapes.
The most that has been written on it, however, is mere verbiage. What,
then, is meant by _case_? In speaking of a horse, for instance, we say
he is in a good _case_, when he is fat, and in a bad _case_, when he is
lean, and needs more oats; and in this sense we apply the term _case_ to
denote the _state_ or _condition_ of the horse.
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