in case

From Middle English [Term?]. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /ɪn ˈkeɪs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

in case

1. To allow for the possibility that.

   I'll take an umbrella, in case it rains.

   I’ve bought a chicken in case grandpa should stay to dine.

   Many's the day I've spent by the phone in case you called.

2. (chiefly Canada, US) If.

   In case you need me, I'll be home all day.

   • 1861, E. J. Guerin, Mountain Charley, page 17:

     Whenever tempted to resume my sex, I was invariably met with the thought — what then? […] The chances were but few in case I resumed my other character, that I would be able to command the amount necessary for their [her children's] support.

• (to allow for the possibility that): in the event (conjunction)

• in case of (preposition)
• in the event that
• just in case

• lest

• “just in case”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “in case”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• Caines, Našice, aescin, casein, cesian