noun
one of the twelve federal United States courts of appeals that cover a group of states known as a `circuit'
• Topics: ↑law, ↑jurisprudence
• Hypernyms: ↑appellate court, ↑appeals court, ↑court of appeals
• Member Holonyms: ↑judicial branch
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any of the courts of appeals in the U.S. federal judicial system before 1948.
[1940-45, Amer.]
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circuit court of appeals,
U.S. any one of a system of nine courts of appeal set up by the Congress in 1891, one for each of the then existing federal judicial circuits. There are now eleven such courts, since 1948 officially designated United States Courts of Appeals.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.