read Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun something that is read
    • the article was a very good read
  2. verb interpret something that is written or printed
    • read the advertisement
    • Have you read Salman Rushdie?
  3. verb have or contain a certain wording or form
    say.
    • The passage reads as follows
    • What does the law say?
  4. verb look at, interpret, and say out loud something that is written or printed
    • The King will read the proclamation at noon
  5. verb obtain data from magnetic tapes
    scan.
    • This dictionary can be read by the computer
  6. verb interpret the significance of, as of palms, tea leaves, intestines, the sky; also of human behavior
    • She read the sky and predicted rain
    • I can't read his strange behavior
    • The fortune teller read his fate in the crystal ball
  7. verb interpret something in a certain way; convey a particular meaning or impression
    take.
    • I read this address as a satire
    • How should I take this message?
    • You can't take credit for this!
  8. verb be a student of a certain subject
    study; take; learn.
    • She is reading for the bar exam
  9. verb indicate a certain reading; of gauges and instruments
    record; register; show.
    • The thermometer showed thirteen degrees below zero
    • The gauge read `empty'
  10. verb audition for a stage role by reading parts of a role
    • He is auditioning for `Julius Caesar' at Stratford this year
  11. verb to hear and understand
    • I read you loud and clear!
  12. verb make sense of a language
    translate; understand; interpret.
    • She understands French
    • Can you read Greek?

WordNet

Read noun
Definitions
  1. Rennet. See 3d Reed. Prov. Eng.
Read transitive verb
Etymology
OE. reden, ræden, AS. r&aemac;dan to read, advice, counsel, fr. r&aemac;d advise, counsel, r&aemac;dan (imperf. reord) to advice, counsel, guess; akin to D. raden to advise, G. raten, rathen, Icel. ra&edh;a, Goth. redan (in comp.), and perh. also to Skr. radh to succeed. Cf. Riddle.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Read ; present participle & verbal noun Reading
Definitions
  1. To advise; to counsel. Obs. See Rede.
    Therefore, I read thee, get to God's word, and thereby try all doctrine. Tyndale.
  2. To interpret; to explain; as, to read a riddle.
  3. To tell; to declare; to recite. Obs.
    But read how art thou named, and of what kin. Spenser.
  4. To go over, as characters or words, and utter aloud, or recite to one's self inaudibly; to take in the sense of, as of language, by interpreting the characters with which it is expressed; to peruse; as, to read a discourse; to read the letters of an alphabet; to read figures; to read the notes of music, or to read music; to read a book.
    Redeth [read ye] the great poet of Itaille. Chaucer.
    Well could he rede a lesson or a story. Chaucer.
  5. Hence, to know fully; to comprehend.
    Who is't can read a woman? Shak.
  6. To discover or understand by characters, marks, features, etc.; to learn by observation.
    An armed corse did lie, In whose dead face he read great magnanimity. Spenser.
    Those about her From her shall read the perfect ways of honor. Shak.
  7. To make a special study of, as by perusing textbooks; as, to read theology or law.
Read transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To give advice or counsel. Obs.
  2. To tell; to declare. Obs. Spenser.
  3. To perform the act of reading; to peruse, or to go over and utter aloud, the words of a book or other like document.
    So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense. Neh. viii. 8.
  4. To study by reading; as, he read for the bar.
  5. To learn by reading.
    I have read of an Eastern king who put a judge to death for an iniquitous sentence. Swift.
  6. To appear in writing or print; to be expressed by, or consist of, certain words or characters; as, the passage reads thus in the early manuscripts.
  7. To produce a certain effect when read; as, that sentence reads queerly.
Read noun
Etymology
AS. r&aemac;d counsel, fr. r&aemac;dan to counsel. See Read, v. t.
Definitions
  1. Saying; sentence; maxim; hence, word; advice; counsel. See Rede. Obs.
  2. Read, v. Reading. Colloq. Hume.
    One newswoman here lets magazines for a penny a read. Furnivall.
Read
Definitions
  1. imp. & p. p. of Read, v. t. & v. i.
Read adjective
Definitions
  1. Instructed or knowing by reading; versed in books; learned.
    A poet . . . well read in Longinus. Addison.

Webster 1913