v.
- come or go back to a place.
▸
(return to)
go back to (a state or situation).
▸(especially of a feeling) come back after a period of absence.
▸Golf play the last nine holes in a round of eighteen holes.
- give or send back or put back in place.
▸feel, say, or do (the same feeling, action, etc.) in response.
▸(in tennis and other sports) hit or send (the ball) back to an opponent.
▸American Football intercept (a pass, kick, or fumble by the opposing team) and run upfield with the ball.
- yield or make (a profit).
- (of a judge or jury) state or present (a decision or verdict) in response to a formal request.
- (of an electorate) elect (a person or party) to office.
- Bridge lead (a card) after taking a trick.
- Architecture continue (a wall) in a changed direction, especially at right angles.
n.
- an act or the action of returning.
▸
(also return match or game)
a second contest between the same opponents.
▸a thing which has been returned, especially an unwanted ticket for an event.
-
(also return ticket)
Brit. a ticket allowing travel to a place and back again.
-
(also returns)
a profit from an investment.
- an official report or statement submitted in response to a formal demand:
census returns.
▸Law an endorsement or report by a court officer or sheriff on a writ.
-
(also carriage return)
a mechanism or key on a typewriter that returns the carriage to a fixed position at the start of a new line.
▸
(also return key)
a key pressed on a computer keyboard to simulate a carriage return.
- an electrical conductor bringing a current back to its source.
- Architecture a part receding from the line of the front, for example the side of a house or of a window opening.
Phrase
- by return
(of post)
Brit. in the next available mail delivery to the sender. - many happy returns
(of the day)
a greeting to someone on their birthday.
Derivative
- returnable adj.
- returner n.
Etymology
ME: the verb from OFr. returner, from L. re- ‘back’ + tornare ‘to turn’; the noun via Anglo-Norman Fr.