jury

noun

1. A group of individuals chosen from the general population to hear and decide a case in a court of law.
2. A group of judges in a competition.
3. (slang)The audience attending the first night of a performance, whose reaction may determine whether it succeeds or fails.

   “The jury which decides on the first night usually seals the fate of the season.”

   “The widespread idea that before a first-night the audience, dressed to the nose, dines en masse at the Colony and proceeds elegantly to the scene in Hispanos is as fabulous as that which imagines it assembles at Lindy's delicatessen in yesterday's shirt and moves on to the theatre in garbage wagons. And no less spurious is the theory that, in either case or in both together, the jury is possessed of a remarkably rich acumen in the matter of theatrical values.”

verb

1. To judge by means of a jury.

adj

1. (not-comparable)For temporary use; applied to a temporary contrivance.

   “jury mast”

   “jury rudder”