Definition of "legal"

legal

/ˈliː.ɡəl/

adjective
comparative more legal, superlative most legal
1. Relating to the law or to lawyers.
  Quotations
  According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.
  2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55
2. Having its basis in the law.
3. Being allowed or prescribed by law.
  Quotations
  After 50 years, legal segregation is a distant memory, and race in America is not the unbridgeable chasm it once was. The country has a black president. The sort of comity that King evoked, in which the descendants of slaves and of slave owners “sit down together at the table of brotherhood”, can be found in many places, including the Deep South. The rate of marriage between blacks and whites is rising.
  2013 August 23, “Waking life”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8850
4. Following the rules or syntax of a system, such as a game or a programming language.
  Quotations
  Programming languages are designed so that each legal program has exactly one meaning
  2021, John V. Guttag, Introduction to Computation and Programming Using Python, Third Edition, page 7
5. (informal) Above the age of consent or the legal drinking age.
6. (US, Canada) (of paper or document layouts) Measuring 8½ in × 14 in (215.9 mm × 355.6 mm) (also legal-size).
noun
countable and uncountable, plural legals
1. (uncountable, informal) The legal department of a company.
2. (uncountable, US, Canada) Paper in sheets 8½ in × 14 in (215.9 mm × 355.6 mm).
3. (countable) A spy who is attached to, and ostensibly employed by, an embassy, military outpost, etc.
4. (countable, informal, US) Somebody who immigrated lawfully.