Definitions for the word "return" from multiple English dictionaries.
1. v. i.
To turn back; to go or come again to the same place or condition.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
2. v. i.
To come back, or begin again, after an interval, regular or irregular; to appear again.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
3. v. i.
To speak in answer; to reply; to respond.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
4. v. i.
To revert; to pass back into possession.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
5. v. i.
To go back in thought, narration, or argument.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
6. v. t.
To bring, carry, send, or turn, back; as, to return a borrowed book, or a hired horse.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
7. v. t.
To repay; as, to return borrowed money.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
8. v. t.
To give in requital or recompense; to requite.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
9. v. t.
To give back in reply; as, to return an answer; to return thanks.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
10. v. t.
To retort; to throw back; as, to return the lie.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
11. v. t.
To report, or bring back and make known.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
12. v. t.
To render, as an account, usually an official account, to a superior; to report officially by a list or statement; as, to return a list of stores, of killed or wounded; to return the result of an election.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
13. v. t.
Hence, to elect according to the official report of the election officers.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
14. v. t.
To bring or send back to a tribunal, or to an office, with a certificate of what has been done; as, to return a writ.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
15. v. t.
To convey into official custody, or to a general depository.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
16. v. t.
To bat (the ball) back over the net.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
17. v. t.
To lead in response to the lead of one's partner; as, to return a trump; to return a diamond for a club.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
18. n.
The act of returning (intransitive), or coming back to the same place or condition; as, the return of one long absent; the return of health; the return of the seasons, or of an anniversary.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
19. n.
The act of returning (transitive), or sending back to the same place or condition; restitution; repayment; requital; retribution; as, the return of anything borrowed, as a book or money; a good return in tennis.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
20. n.
That which is returned.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
21. n.
A payment; a remittance; a requital.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
22. n.
An answer; as, a return to one's question.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
23. n.
An account, or formal report, of an action performed, of a duty discharged, of facts or statistics, and the like; as, election returns; a return of the amount of goods produced or sold; especially, in the plural, a set of tabulated statistics prepared for general information.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
24. n.
The profit on, or advantage received from, labor, or an investment, undertaking, adventure, etc.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
25. n.
The continuation in a different direction, most often at a right angle, of a building, face of a building, or any member, as a molding or mold; -- applied to the shorter in contradistinction to the longer; thus, a facade of sixty feet east and west has a return of twenty feet north and south.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
26. n.
The rendering back or delivery of writ, precept, or execution, to the proper officer or court.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
27. n.
The certificate of an officer stating what he has done in execution of a writ, precept, etc., indorsed on the document.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
28. n.
The sending back of a commission with the certificate of the commissioners.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
29. n.
A day in bank. See Return day, below.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
30. n.
An official account, report, or statement, rendered to the commander or other superior officer; as, the return of men fit for duty; the return of the number of the sick; the return of provisions, etc.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
31. n.
The turnings and windings of a trench or mine.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
32. v.
1 come or go back. 2 bring, put, or send back. 3 pay back or reciprocate; give in response. 4 yield (a profit). 5 say in reply; retort. 6 (in cricket or tennis etc.) Hit or send (the ball) back. 7 state, mention, or describe officially, esp. In answer to a writ or formal demand. 8 (of an electorate) elect as an mp, government, etc. n. 1 coming or going back. 2 a giving, sending, putting, or paying back. B thing given or sent back. 3 (in full return ticket) ticket for a journey to a place and back to the starting-point. 4 (in sing. Or pl.) A proceeds or profit of an undertaking. B acquisition of these. 5 formal statement compiled or submitted by order (income-tax return). 6 (in full return match or game) second match etc. Between the same opponents. 7 a person''s election as an mp etc. B returning officer''s announcement of this. by return (of post) by the next available post in the return direction. In return as an exchange or reciprocal action. Many happy returns (of the day) greeting on a birthday. returnable adj. [romanic: related to *turn]
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884
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