Exact historical dictionary sense
Code in Webster's 1913 dictionary
The 1913 record labels code as noun. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.
[F., fr. L. codex, caudex, the stock or stem of a tree, a board or tablet of wood smeared over with wax, on which the ancients originally wrote; hence, a book, a writing.]
Cross-verified historical senseIn Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "code" is labeled noun. Its etymology is recorded as: "[F., fr. L. codex, caudex, the stock or stem of a tree, a board or tablet of wood smeared over with wax, on which the ancients originally wrote; hence, a book, a writing.]" The selected historical definition says: "A body of law, sanctioned by legislation, in which the rules of law to be specifically applied by the courts are set forth in systematic form; a compilation of laws by public authority; a digest."