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Chambers (1908)

Return

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[Fr. retourner—re-, back, tourner, to turn—L. tornāre, to turn.]

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e-38699-6249

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Return, rē-turn′, v.i. to come back to the same place or state: to answer: to retort: to turn back: to repeat: to revert: to recur: to reappear.—v.t. to bring or send back: to transmit: to give back: to repay: to give back in reply: to report: to give an account: to cast back: to reflect: to re-echo: to revolve: to restore: to requite: to return a call: to elect, as a member of parliament: in card-playing, to lead back in response to the lead of one's partner: in tennis, to bat the ball back over the net: in fencing, to give a thrust or cut after parrying a sword-thrust.—n. the act of going back: revolution: periodic renewal: the act of bringing or sending back: restitution: repayment: the profit on capital or labour: a reply: a report or account, esp. official: (pl.) a light-coloured and mild kind of tobacco: (law) the rendering back of a writ to the proper officer: (mil.) the return of the men fit for duty: (archit.) the continuation in a different direction of the face of a building, as a moulding.—adj. Retur′nable, legally requiring to be returned.—ns. Return′-bend, a pipe-coupling in the shape of the letter [Image: U shape] ; Return′-car′go, a cargo brought back in place of merchandise previously sent out; Return′-check, a ticket for readmission; Return′-day, the day fixed when the defendant is to appear in court; Retur′ner; Retur′ning-off′icer, the officer who makes returns of writs, &c.: the presiding officer at an election.—adj. Return′less.—ns. Return′-match, a second match played by the same set of players; Return′-shock, an electric shock due to the action of induction sometimes felt after a lightning-flash; Return′-tag, a tag attached to a railway-car as evidence of its due arrival; Return′-tick′et, a ticket issued by a company for a journey and its return, usually at a reduced charge; Return′-valve, a valve which opens to allow reflux of a fluid in case of overflow. [Fr. retourner—re-, back, tourner, to turn—L. tornāre, to turn.]

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  • Historical scholarship from 1908; not current consensus or editorial verification.
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  • Chambers consulted earlier dictionaries including Skeat and the New English Dictionary; overlapping claims are not independent scholarly votes.

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Edition, rights and traceability

Chambers’s Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language
Thomas Davidson (editor)
1908

Public-domain-US ↗ · United States

Publisher marks these historical texts public domain in the USA. Transformed book text excludes Gutenberg branding; source attribution is a bibliographic acknowledgment. No non-US public-domain determination is made.

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