recourse

recourse
    n 1: act of turning to for assistance; "have recourse to the
         courts"; "an appeal to his uncle was his last resort" [syn:
         {recourse}, {resort}, {refuge}]
    2: something or someone turned to for assistance or security;
       "his only recourse was the police"; "took refuge in lying"
       [syn: {recourse}, {refuge}, {resort}]
    

Recourse \Re*course"\ (r?*k?rs"), n. [F. recours, L. recursus a
   running back, return, fr. recurrere, recursum, to run back.
   See {Recur}.]
   1. A coursing back, or coursing again, along the line of a
      previous coursing; renewed course; return; retreat;
      recurence. [Obs.] "Swift recourse of flushing blood."
      --Spenser.
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            Unto my first I will have my recourse. --Chaucer.
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            Preventive physic . . . preventeth sickness in the
            healthy, or the recourse thereof in the
            valetudinary.                         --Sir T.
                                                  Browne.
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   2. Recurrence in difficulty, perplexity, need, or the like;
      access or application for aid; resort.
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            Thus died this great peer, in a time of great
            recourse unto him and dependence upon him. --Sir H.
                                                  Wotton.
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            Our last recourse is therefore to our art. --Dryden.
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   3. Access; admittance. [Obs.]
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            Give me recourse to him.              --Shak.
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   {Without recourse} (Commerce), words sometimes added to the
      indorsement of a negotiable instrument to protect the
      indorser from liability to the indorsee and subsequent
      holders. It is a restricted indorsement.
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Recourse \Re*course"\, v. i.
   1. To return; to recur. [Obs.]
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            The flame departing and recoursing.   --Foxe.
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   2. To have recourse; to resort. [Obs.] --Bp. Hacket.
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48 Moby Thesaurus words for "recourse":
      ability, access, admittance, agency, alternative, availability,
      backup, capacity, capital, dernier ressort, device, devices,
      disposable resources, entree, expediency, expedient, funds,
      going between, hope, instrumentality, intermediation, last resort,
      machinery, makeshift, means, mechanism, mediation, method,
      pis aller, power, recourses, refuge, remedy, reserve, resort,
      resorts, resource, resources, service, shift, stock, stopgap,
      substitute, supply, ways, ways and means, wherewith, wherewithal