recourse Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun act of turning to for assistance
    resort; refuge.
    • have recourse to the courts
    • an appeal to his uncle was his last resort
  2. noun something or someone turned to for assistance or security
    resort; refuge.
    • his only recourse was the police
    • took refuge in lying

WordNet

Re*course" noun
Etymology
F. recours, L. recursus a running back, return, fr. recurrere, recursum, to run back. See Recur.
Definitions
  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.
    Unto my first I will have my recourse. Chaucer.
    Preventive physic . . . preventeth sickness in the healthy, or the recourse thereof in the valetudinary. Sir T. Browne.
  2. Recurrence in difficulty, perplexity, need, or the like; access or application for aid; resort.
    Thus died this great peer, in a time of great recourse unto him and dependence upon him. Sir H. Wotton.
    Our last recourse is therefore to our art. Dryden.
  3. Access; admittance. Obs.
    Give me recourse to him. Shak.
Re*course" intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To return; to recur. Obs.
    The flame departing and recoursing. Foxe.
  2. To have recourse; to resort. Obs. Bp. Hacket.

Webster 1913