A professional person qualified (as by a law degree or bar exam) and authorized to practice law, i.e. represent parties in lawsuits or trials and give legal advice.
"After my friend was arrested for the traffic violation, he hired a lawyer who could argue his case before the judge."
In plain English: A lawyer is someone who helps people solve legal problems and represents them in court.
"She hired a lawyer to represent her in court."
Usage: Use "lawyer" to refer to any attorney who has passed the bar exam and is licensed to provide legal advice or represent clients in court. Do not confuse this term with specific titles like "attorney at law," which are often used interchangeably but may carry different formal implications depending on the jurisdiction.
To practice law.
"After graduating from law school, she immediately began to practice law as a lawyer in downtown Chicago."
In plain English: To lawyer means to argue aggressively and use technical rules to win a legal case.
"You can't just lawyer your way out of every mistake you make."
Usage: Do not use "lawyer" as a verb; instead, say that someone practices law or acts as counsel. The word functions only as a noun referring to a person trained in legal matters.
A male given name
"My neighbor named his firstborn son Lawyer after a famous judge from our family history."
The word lawyer comes from Middle English, where it originally combined the word law with a suffix meaning one who practices or deals with that subject. It entered modern usage simply as a term for someone whose profession involves interpreting and applying legal rules.