Definition of: claim

(klām) v.t.
1. To demand on the ground or right; affirm to be one's due; assert ownership or title to.
2. To hold to be true against implied denial or doubt.
3. To require or deserve: The problem claims our attention.
—v.i.
4. To derive a right; make a claim, especially by descent: He claims from royal lineage. See synonyms under ALLEGE, ASSERT, ASSUME, DEMAND.
—noun
1. The demand for something as due or on the ground of right; the assertion of a right; a right or title.
2. An assertion, as of a fact.
3. A tract of government land, petitioned for, marked out, and claimed by a settler.
4. A piece of public land staked out by a miner to be worked by him. See synonyms under RIGHT.
—Court of Claims See under COURT. [<OF clamer call, claim <L clamare declare]
—claim′a·ble adjective
—claim′er noun