motion

noun | mo·tion
  1. : a proposal for action; especially : a formal proposal made in a legislative assembly made a motion to refer the bill to committee : a formal proposal made in a legislative assembly made a motion to refer the bill to committee

    b : the initiative of a court to issue an order, ruling, or direction the court is given discretion to order a pretrial conference either on its own motion or at the request of a party —J. H. Friedenthal et al.

    — motion for a more definite statement
    : a motion that is filed before an answer and that requests the court to order the plaintiff to clarify allegations in the complaint because the claims are so vague or ambiguous that an answer cannot reasonably be framed

    — motion for judgment on the pleadings
    : a motion made after pleadings have been entered that requests the court to issue a judgment at that point — compare summary judgment at judgment 1a Note: Under Rule 12(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, if matters outside of the pleadings are presented to the court when a motion for judgment on the pleadings is made, the motion will be treated as a motion for summary judgment.

    — motion in limine
    : a usually pretrial motion that requests the court to issue an interlocutory order which prevents an opposing party from introducing or referring to potentially irrelevant, prejudicial, or otherwise generally inadmissible evidence until the court has finally ruled on its admissibility

    — motion to strike
    : a motion in a civil trial to remove from a pleading an insufficient defense or any redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter : a motion in a criminal trial to exclude evidence from the record

    — motion to suppress
    : a pretrial motion requesting the court to exclude evidence that was obtained illegally and especially in violation of Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment protections

    — omnibus motion
    : a motion that makes multiple requests filing an omnibus motion to dismiss and for a more definite statement —Department of Ins. of Florida v. Coopers & Lybrand, 570 So. 2d 369 (1990)

  1. a : an application made to a court or judge to obtain an order, ruling, or direction a motion to arrest judgment; also : a document containing such an application : a document containing such an application

motion

verb
  1. : move motioned for a summary judgment