readv.

Brit.

/riːd/, U.S.

/rid/

Inflections: Past tense and past participle read

/rɛd/;

Forms: 1. Present stem. a. Infinitive Old English radan (rare), Old English rædan, Old English ræddan (rare), Old English rędan, Old English redan, Old English reða (Northumbrian), early Middle English ræde, early Middle English ræðed (imperative plural, transmission error), early Middle English renden (transmission error), Middle English rade, Middle English redd, Middle English redde, Middle English rendyn (transmission error), Middle English reyde, Middle English ride, Middle English ryd, Middle English ryde, Middle English–1500s reed, Middle English–1600s reade, Middle English–1600s reede, Middle English–1700s red, Middle English– read, Middle English– rede (now archaic: see rede v.¹), late Middle English rude (probably transmission error), late Middle English 1500s rode (probably transmission error), 1500s rid (in senses of rede v.¹); English regional 1800s redd (north midlands, in senses of rede v.¹), 1800s– rede (northern); Scottish pre-1700 reade, pre-1700 reyd, pre-1700 rid, pre-1700 ride, pre-1700 ried, pre-1700 ryd, pre-1700 (1700s in sense 1a) reed, pre-1700 1700s–1800s red, pre-1700 1700s– read, pre-1700 1700s– rede, pre-1700 1800s reid, pre-1700 1800s reide, 1700s–1800s redd, 1800s rad, 1800s redde (in senses of rede v.¹). b. 3rd singular indicative.

α. Old English (rare)–early Middle English ræd, Old English–early Middle English ræt, Old English (rare)–Middle English ret, Middle English rat, Middle English rate, Middle English ratt, Middle English read (south-west midlands), Middle English reat (south-west midlands), Middle English red, Middle English rette.

β. Old English–early Middle English rædeþ, Old English–early Middle English rædeð, Old English (Northumbrian)–Middle English 1800s– redes (now archaic: see rede v.¹), early Middle English radeþ, early Middle English readeð, Middle English readeþ (in senses of rede v.¹), Middle English reded, Middle English redeþ, Middle English redeð, Middle English redis, Middle English rediþ, Middle English redith, Middle English rhedys (transmission error), Middle English ridyth, Middle English–1500s redeth, Middle English–1600s reades, 1500s–1600s readeth, 1600s reedes, 1600s– reads; also Scottish pre-1700 reddis, pre-1700 redis, pre-1700 redys, pre-1700 reeds, pre-1700 reids, 1700s redds (in senses of rede v.¹), 1900s– redes (in senses of rede v.¹).

2. Past tense. a. Strong

α. Old English hreordun (Mercian, plural), Old English reord.

β. Old English redon (plural).

b. Weak Old English hræddon (plural, rare), Old English ræde (rare), Old English–early Middle English rædde, Old English–Middle English redde, Middle English rade, Middle English raded, Middle English rardde (transmission error), Middle English readde (south-west midlands and south-western), Middle English rededen (plural), Middle English reid (northern), Middle English reided, Middle English 1500s rad, Middle English 1500s radde, Middle English–1500s rede, Middle English–1500s 1800s redd, Middle English–1700s red, 1500s reade (in senses of rede v.¹), 1500s– read; Scottish pre-1700 rad, pre-1700 redd, pre-1700 reid, pre-1700 1700s– read, pre-1700 (1900s rare) rede (in senses of rede v.¹), pre-1700 1900s– red; N.E.D. (1904) also records a form Middle English rat. 3. Past participle. a. Strong Old English ræden, Middle English reddynn (northern), 1500s readen. b. Weak Old English geræd, Old English gerædd, Old English geredd, Old English gereded (Northumbrian), Old English raed (in a late copy), Old English ræd, Old English rædd, Old English ræded, late Old English–early Middle English gered, early Middle English iræd, Middle English eradde, Middle English irad, Middle English iradde, Middle English ired, Middle English iredde, Middle English irede, Middle English raad, Middle English radde, Middle English rade, Middle English redd, Middle English rede, Middle English reedd, Middle English yrad, Middle English yrade, Middle English yred, Middle English yrudde, Middle English–1500s redde, Middle English–1700s rad, Middle English–1700s red, 1500s reade, 1500s reed, 1500s– read; Scottish pre-1700 rad, pre-1700 raid, pre-1700 redde, pre-1700 reed, pre-1700 reid, pre-1700 1700s–1800s red, pre-1700 1700s–1800s rede, pre-1700 1700s– read, pre-1700 1800s– redd; also Irish English (northern) 1800s redd.

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.

Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian rēda to advise, to deliberate, to help, Middle Dutch rāden to advise, to suggest, to convince, to devise, to guess, to think, to plot (Dutch raden ), Old Saxon rādan to advise, to plan, to arrange (Middle Low German rāden , also in senses ‘to rule’, ‘to predict’, ‘to relate’), Old High German rātan , rāten to advise, to deliberate, to assist, to plot (Middle High German rāten , also in sense ‘to guess’; German raten ), Old Icelandic ráða to advise, to devise, to plot, to rule, to explain, to read, interpret, to punish, to undertake, Norn (Shetland) ro to rule, Old Swedish råþa to advise, to deliberate, to rule, to determine, to deal with, to fathom, to interpret (Swedish råda ), Old Danish rathæ to advise, to deliberate, to rule, to see to, to comprehend (Danish råde , †raade ), Gothic -redan , probably < the same Indo-European base as Early Irish ráidid says, speaks (Irish ráidh ; compare Early Irish imm-rádi deliberates, considers), Old Church Slavonic raditi to take thought (about a thing), to attend to, to take care of (a thing), Sanskrit rādh- to succeed, accomplish. Compare rede v.¹, rede v.², and also rede n.¹ In Old English and Middle English the present word is attested with a wide range of senses, including ‘to advise’, ‘to deliberate’ (compare the semantic range of the Germanic cognates). These senses, now archaic, poetic, or regional, are in modern use usually distinguished in form as rede v.¹ In modern Scots and in English regional use the spelling rede is sometimes also found for senses other than those at rede v.¹, apparently chiefly to indicate senses regarded as obsolete or archaic in standard English, such as senses 1 and 2 (in the case of sense 2 in so far as the reinterpretation discussed at that sense has not taken place). A comparable archaic or historic use of the spelling rede is occasionally found elsewhere in literary texts (see sense 19). (In early Middle English a similar distinction is found in a group of texts from the south-west midlands, except that there the distinction is reversed, with readen being found in ‘to advise, direct’ and related senses and reden in ‘to interpret, read’ and related senses: see S. R. T. O. d'Ardenne Þe Liflade ant te Passiun of Seinte Iuliene (1961) 248.) While senses corresponding to branch I. (‘to interpret’, etc.) are found in other Germanic languages (for the semantic associations of the stem in Germanic compare also riddle n.¹), the sense ‘to scan a written text’, etc. is current only in English. In Old Icelandic this sense is modelled on Old English and is now obsolete. However, the Old Icelandic phrase ráða rúnar ‘to interpret runes’ is apparently inherited from early Scandinavian (it is attested early in Swedish as well). A comparable use may have been transferred by the Anglo-Saxons from runic writing to Latin script, whereas in other Germanic languages reflexes of the Germanic base of lease v.¹ acquired this sense, after classical Latin legere to choose, to read (see lection n.). Historically, read v. shows the reflex of a Germanic strong verb of Class VII, belonging to a small subgroup derived from Germanic verbs whose past tense was formed by reduplication (see A. Campbell Old Eng. Gram. (1959) §§736(j), 746); compare Gothic -rairoþ (past tense, with reduplication), -redans (past participle, without reduplication). In other Germanic languages this verb was assimilated to non-reduplicative Class VII verbs; compare the following past tense and past participle forms: Old Frisian rēd , Middle Dutch riet , ried (also reet ), past participle gherāden (Dutch ried , geraden ), Old Saxon rēd , ried , past participle girādan (Middle Low German rēt , gerāden ), Old High German riat , past participle girātan (Middle High German riet , geraten ; German riet , geraten ), Old Icelandic réð , past participle ráðinn , Old Swedish ræþ , reþ , past participle raþin (Swedish (past participle) †råden ). In Old English the same pattern as in Gothic is shown by reord (past tense, showing original reduplication) and gerǣden (past participle), but these are found only in a few instances in Anglian texts (see Forms 2 (i) and Forms 3 (i)). A past tense form rēd , assimilated (as in other Germanic languages except Gothic) to non-reduplicative Class VII verbs, is also attested. However, for the most part the verb belongs to the weak conjugation (see Forms 2 (ii) and Forms 3 (ii)), the usual inflectional pattern being rǣdde , gerǣd(e)d , corresponding to the paradigm of weak Class I verbs such as lǣdan lead v.¹ For similar developments in other Germanic languages compare: (past tense) Dutch raadde , Middle Low German radde , redde , German (rare) ratete (now obsolete or nonstandard, for usual riet ), Old Swedish radde (Swedish rådde ), Danish rådede , †rådte ; (past participle) Middle Dutch (rare) gheraet . The early switch to the weak conjugation in English has been attributed to association with rede v.², with which the word was associated formally and probably also semantically, although this is difficult to be certain of, since each of these two stems occurs with a wide and partially overlapping range of senses in Germanic languages (compare e.g. Gothic raidjan ‘to establish, to correctly determine, to interpret’ with branch I.). The two verbs are sometimes regarded as completely merged in Old English. There is no certain evidence for continuity of the strong past tense forms beyond the Old English period. In Middle English the strong past tense may be continued in some past tense forms that appear to show a long close vowel e and a single stem-final consonant (compare especially Scots reid : see Forms 2 (ii)), but these could also be due to analogy with present tense forms. As regards the strong past participle forms, the single northern Middle English strong past participle form reddynn (see Forms 3 (i)) appears to be influenced by the weak participle form redd . It is very doubtful whether the apparently isolated early modern English strong participle form readen indicates any continuity with the Old English strong inflection. The expected stem vowel in the present tense and weak past tense in Old English is West Saxon (and apparently also East Saxon) rǣd- , Anglian and Kentish rēd- . Later reflexes of rǣd- in areas where those of rēd- would be expected show that this pattern was disrupted, perhaps already in the Old English period through the influence of rede v.², but probably also later through interdialectal borrowing. Weak past tense forms such as Middle English radde (see Forms 2 (ii)) derive by early shortening before double consonant < Old English rǣdde (whereas Older Scots rad alternatively may show lowering of the vowel in red ). Weak past tense and past participle forms such as Middle English redde derive either < Old English rēdde or (by later shortening) < early Middle English redde /rɛːddə/ ( < Old English rǣdde ). The early modern English evidence shows much variation in the vowel of the infinitive in the standard language between reflexes of rǣd- and rēd- ( E. J. Dobson Eng. Pronunc. 1500–1700 (ed. 2, 1968) II. § 118). These have become homophonous as /riːd/. The modern standard spelling read reflects the form with the reflex of Middle English open ē ( < Old English rǣd- ). The present-day spelling of the past tense and past participle forms is analogous to the present tense; the spelling red for past tense and past participle is found only in isolated instances in the modern period and was perhaps avoided because it coincided with the standard spelling of red adj. There is only very tenuous evidence for extension of the (long) vowel of the present tense to the past tense in pronunciation in standard English in the early modern period (see E. J. Dobson Eng. Pronunc. 1500–1700 (ed. 2, 1968) II. § 8). Most of the modern regional forms also show reflexes of the shortened vowel. In Scots and in English regional use extension of the short vowel of the past tense to the present tense is found in forms such as red , redd (see Forms 1 (i) and Forms 1 (ii)), chiefly in senses of rede v.¹ and (in Scots) in senses of branch I. of read v. For what is probably the result of a similar development compare redd v.² beside rede v.² In Old English the prefixed form gerǣdan (compare y- prefix) is also attested, and this survived into early Middle English. Compare also arǣdan aread v., berǣdan berede v., forrǣdan forrede v., misrǣdan misrede v., oferrǣdan over-read v., þurhrǣdan to read through (compare through- prefix and to read through at Phrasal verbs), wiþrǣdan to act against (compare with- prefix).

I. To consider, interpret, discern.

†1.

a. transitive. To think or suppose (that something is the case). In later use chiefly Scottish. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > conceive, form in the mind [verb (transitive)]

readOE

thinkOE

bethinkc1175

makea1400

imaginec1400

conceive?a1425

suppose1586

conceit1591

ideate1610

braina1616

forma1616

engross1632

cogitate1856

conceptualize1873

the mind > mental capacity > belief > supposition, surmise > suppose, surmise [verb (transitive)]

ween971

readOE

aweena1275

guessc1380

supposec1384

seemc1386

imaginec1405

presupposec1443

deem1470

surmise1509

suspectc1550

doubt1568

expect1592

s'pose1632

fancy1672

sus1958

OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Corpus Cambr.) iii. x. 180 Þa ongann he mid gleawum mode þencean & rædan [eOE Tanner ræsian], þætte nan oðer intinga wære þære stowe [grennis & fægernis].

a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (1987) i. 495 But wel I rede that, by no manere weye, Ne semed it as that she of him roughte.

a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1897–1973) 36 (MED) Help, god, in this nede, As thou art stere-man good and best, as I rede, Of all.

1600 N. Breton Pasquils Fooles-cap (rev. ed.) sig. C3 Let him be sure that better wits doe reede, Such Madhead fellowes are but Fooles indeede.

1768 A. Ross Fortunate Shepherdess iii. 122 Goodwife, I reed your tale is true.

1790 A. Shirrefs Poems 86 He's ane, I red, that ye can eithly spare.

1806 J. Black Falls of Clyde 124 Now's the time, I red, O' moon, whan they are wont to gang to bed.

b. transitive. To guess, make out, or tell by conjecture (what, who, why, etc.). Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > conjecture, guessing > conjecture, guess [verb (transitive)]

readOE

ettlec1275

divine1362

areadc1374

conjectc1374

aima1382

imaginec1405

supposec1405

imagine1477

conjecture1530

guessa1535

harpa1616

foreguess1640

OE Riddle 61 9 Ræd hwæt ic mæne.

OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xiv.141 Iudei..mid anum wæfelse his neb bewundon, sleande mid handbredum, huxlice and gelome, and heton hine rædan hwa hine hrepode.

a1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesworth (Arun.) (1857) 161 (MED) Red qwat it may beo.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 597 Þow mai ask..qui god him gaue sua mikel a nam; Parfay, þat [es] bot eth to rede.

a1450 in R. L. Greene Early Eng. Carols (1935) 279 I haue a jelyf of Godes sonde... It can smytyn and haght non honde; Ryd yourself quat it may be.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 681/2 Rede who tolde it me and I wyll tell the trouthe.

1564 in F. J. Furnivall Child-marriages, Divorces, & Ratifications Diocese Chester (1897) 124 This deponent askid the said Margaret, who that shuld be; and the said Margaret bade this deponent reade if he cold.

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. xii. sig. Aa8^v Right hard it was, for wight, which did it heare, To read, what manner musicke that mote bee.

c. transitive. To take for something. Obsolete. rare. archaic in quot. 1813.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > evaluation, estimation, appraisal > appraise, estimate [verb (transitive)] > view in a certain way

findOE

telllOE

to take for ——a1393

receivec1400

notec1440

reputec1475

esteem1532

estimate1609

relish1617

set1648

resent1649

contemplate1785

1591 E. Spenser Ruines of Time in Complaints 633 I saw a stately Bed,..That might for anie Princes couche be red.

1813 W. Scott Rokeby iii. 128 I read you for a bold dragoon, That lists the tuck of drum.

a. transitive. To make out, discover, or expound the meaning or significance of (a riddle, dream, omen, etc.). Cf. sense 11b.In quot. 1862 used reflexively.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > a profound secret, mystery > puzzle, enigma, riddle > solution of puzzle, riddle, etc. > expound, solve [verb (transitive)]

areadOE

readOE

expound1535

unriddlea1586

riddle me a riddle1588

to riddle forth1624

riddle1627

to riddle out1647

rede1725

discruciatea1745

redd1876

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > interpretation of dreams > interpret [verb (transitive)]

unloukOE

areadOE

undo?a1366

expound1375

cast1382

rechec1540

redec1640

OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 179 Con[i]cio,..ic ræde swefn.

OE tr. Apollonius of Tyre (1958) iii. 4 Ac gif heora hwilc þonne þurh asmeagunge boclicre snotornesse þone rædels ariht rædde, þonne wearð se to beheafdunge gelæd swa same swa se ðe hine ariht ne rædde.

?a1300 Iacob & Iosep (Bodl.) (1916) 311 (MED) Þe king wel feire his sweuen he tolde & bad swiþe feire reden þat he hit ssolde.

a1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesworth (Arun.) (1857) 161 (MED) Red that redeles.

Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 426 (MED) Redyn or expownyn redellys or parabol and other privyteys, idem quod ondon.

1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. xii. 198 Thou seest him taken out of Prison to reade the Kings Dreames.

1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress Author's Apol. sig. A6^v Would'st thou read Riddles, & their Explanation?

1728 A. Ramsay Robert, Richy, & Sandy 34 Ah! now my dream its red.

1768 A. Ross Fortunate Shepherdess iii. 124 I'm right, I'm right! My dream is read.

1862 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia III. xiv. vii. 724 The small riddle reads itself to him so.

1886 J. Ruskin Præterita II. i. 24 Neither he nor I were given to reading omens, or dreading them.

1929 R. Bridges Test. Beauty ii. 260 To read the strange riddle of the hiving bees.

1976 H. Wilson Governance of Brit. iii. 42 The Civil Service is..politically, almost cynically, dispassionate in reading the electoral portents.

2003 T. Crockett Stone Age Wisdom iv. 118 When I help someone read a dream or an object they have brought to me, I provide options.

b. transitive. To foresee, foretell, predict (a person's fortune, the future, etc.). Also followed by clause.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > fortune-telling > tell someone's fortune [verb (transitive)]

fortune-tella1616

redec1640

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination by natural phenomena > palmistry > divine by chiromancy [verb (transitive)]

redec1640

chiromance1873

1565 A. Golding tr. Ovid Fyrst Fower Bks. Metamorphosis iii. f. 6 Folke too haue their fortunes readde..dayly dyd resorte.

1591 E. Spenser Prosopopoia in Complaints sig. O^v For he mongst Ladies could their fortunes read.

1679 C. Cotton Confinement 30 Old Granams shake their empty heads, and cry, I long before read this his destiny.

1725 A. Ramsay Gentle Shepherd iii. ii. 42 Nor come I to redd Fortunes for Reward.

1790 A. Shirrefs Poems 122 Like gospel, Sir, she credits a' ye said, And says, she's sure 'twill happen as ye read.

1806 R. Jamieson Pop. Ballads I. 237 And this black hour be past, I rede ye'll rue it sair.

1845 C. Dickens Chimes i. 37 He could not bear that Meg, in the blush of her brief joy, should have her fortune read by these wise gentlemen.

1962 H. Nemerov Next Room of Dream 78 Find me a witch, a wizard, anyone Who hears God, reads the future, traffics with the dead.

a1974 B. L. Coombes With Dust still in his Throat (1999) 72 Let me read your fortune in the cup, Mr Gelder.

2002 J. E. Fortin Method in Madness ii. 68 He readily agrees to let her read his fortune, but she steals his watch.

†3. transitive. To count, reckon, estimate. English regional in later use. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > enumeration, reckoning, or calculation > number, calculate, or reckon [verb (transitive)]

rimeeOE

arimec885

atellc885

talec897

i-telle971

tellOE

readc1225

reckon?c1225

aima1375

numbera1382

denumber1382

accounta1393

casta1400

countc1400

umberc1400

ascribe1432

annumerate?a1475

to sum upa1475

annumbera1500

ennumber1535

reckon?1537

tally1542

compute1579

recount1581

rate1599

catalogize1602

to add up1611

suma1616

enumeratea1649

numerate1657

to run up1830

to figure out1834

figure1854

to count up1872

enumer1936

c1225 (?c1200) St. Juliana (Bodl.) 473 Ne mahte hit na mon rikenin ne reden [c1225 Royal tellen].

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 2570 (MED) Þe barns þat o þe sal bred Namar sal þou þam cun rede Þan sterns on light and sand in see.

a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 2484 (MED) Swa may we ay rekken and rede An hondreth syns agayne a gude dede.

1451–1500 (c1400) Vision of Tundale 409 (MED) Over þat pitte he se a brigge..Hit was a thousand steppes to rede.

1790 F. Grose Provinc. Gloss. (ed. 2) Read, to judge of, guess. At what price do you Read this horse? Glouc.

†4. transitive. To see, discern, distinguish. Obsolete. rare (chiefly in Spenser).

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (transitive)] > succeed in seeing or catch sight of

underyetec1000

aspya1250

kenc1275

ofyetec1275

choosea1300

akenc1300

descrivec1300

ofkenc1300

readc1300

espyc1320

descryc1330

spyc1380

discernc1405

discover1553

scan1558

scry1558

decern1559

describe1574

to make out1575

escry1581

interview1587

display1590

to set sight of (in)c1595

sight1602

discreevec1650

glance1656

to catch a glimpse of1679

steal1731

oversee1735

glimpse1779

twig1796

to clap eyes on1838

spot1848

sky1900

c1300 Body & Soul (Laud Misc. 108) (1889) 43 (MED) Þat tou ne were and red roun, Nevere did i þing ne spac.

c1426 J. Audelay Poems (1931) 222 (MED) Þe red rowys of þe day þe rynkkys kouþyn rade.

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. i. sig. A6 Such vgly monstrous shapes elswher may no man reed.

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene iii. ix. sig. Ll Good by paragone Of euill, may more notably be rad.

1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene v. xii. sig. Y8^v Bit him behind, that long the marke was to be read .

II. To scan or study writing silently or (esp. in early use) by oneself or for one's own benefit.

a. transitive. To inspect and interpret in thought (any signs which represent words or discourse); to look over or scan (something written, printed, etc.) with understanding of what is meant by the letters or signs; to peruse or be in the habit of perusing (a book, periodical, the work of an author, etc.).Formerly used in imperative (as in quot. 1563) to refer the reader to another source.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > reading > [verb (transitive)]

readOE

turnc1300

see1379

revolve1485

peruse1532

supervise1541

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > meaning of linguistic unit > mean, signify, express [verb (transitive)]

tokenc888

meaneOE

sayOE

bequeathc1175

signifya1382

beara1400

bemeana1400

soundc1400

designc1429

applyc1450

betoken1502

express1526

conveya1568

intend1572

carry1584

denotate1597

pronounce1610

to set out1628

implya1640

speak1645

denote1668

designate1741

describe1808

enunciate1859

OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: John xix. 20 Hunc..titulum multi legerunt Iudaeorum : ðiosne..taccon..menigo redon [OE Rushw. reddun] ðara iudeana.

lOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Bodl.) Proem 1 For Godes naman he halsað ælcne þara þe þas boc rædan lyste, þæt he for hine gebidde.

c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) Ded. l. 328 Þa crisstene menn. Þatt herenn oþerr redenn. Þiss boc.

c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 2244 Stille boc runen heo senden him to ræden.

c1350 Apocalypse St. John: A Version (Harl. 874) (1961) 5 (MED) After he blisses alle þat reden or heren þe wordes of þis prophecie.

c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. iii. 334 (MED) Ac þow art like a lady þat redde a lessoun ones.

1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) (1859) i. xxii. 23 He hath redde and knowen bothe wordes and werkes of the rather seyntes.

1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 684/2 I can proue that he red some commentours and holy doctours, that write exposicions vpon it.

1563 J. Shute First Groundes Archit. sig. Bii The Pyramides..and manye other beautifull buildinges of that nacion. Reade Diado. Sic. li. 1. 2.

1617 F. Moryson Itinerary ii. 230 Because I am not sure whether you can perfectly reade her Maiesties hand, I send you the same in a coppy.

1646 in Hamilton Papers (1880) 126 One word of it which I reade without my cipher.

1711 A. Pope Ess. Crit. 15 A perfect Judge will read each Work of Wit With the same Spirit that its Author writ.

1795 Waldeck Abbey I. i. 3 I expect this my book to be read by all degrees and ranks in life, from the Prince to the peasant.

1828 E. Bulwer-Lytton Pelham I. ii. 7 She had read all the historical romances of the day.

1894 Academy 7 July 6/2 A thousand people..may read Virgil; but every one will apperceive him differently.

1925 V. Woolf Mrs. Dalloway 114 No decent man ought to read Shakespeare's sonnets.

1937 Life 13 Sept. 119/1 (caption) They read the books for the blind made with Braille dots.

1986 PC Week (Nexis) 17 June 105 The user has to perform manually all the steps required to read his or her E-mail.

2007 N.Y. Mag. 28 May 40/3 You don't even have the concentration skills to read a book.

b. transitive. To interpret or be able to interpret the written form of (a language); to peruse books, etc., written in (a language).Sometimes used in contrast to being able to write or speak a language.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > a language > using or speaking languages > speak a language [verb (transitive)] > understand a language

understanda1000

reada1400

eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) Pref. 7 Ic ða gemunde hu sio lar Lædengeðiodes ær ðissum afeallen wæs giond Angelcynn, & ðeah monige cuðon Englisc gewrit arædan.]

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 20064 (MED) In sotherin englis was it draun, And turnd it haue i till our aun Langage o northrin lede, þat can nan oiþer englis rede.

a1450 Dis. Women (Douce) in Proc. Royal Soc. Med. (1916) 9 37 Whomen of our tonge done bettyr rede and undyrstande þys langage þan eny oþer.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 681/2 I rede latyn better nowe than I wene I shall do frenche hence of a yere.

1567 J. Jewel Def. Apol. Churche Eng. vi. iii. §3. 601 Priestes..that, for the more parte, can neither Speake Latine, nor Reade Englishe.

1612 J. Brinsley Ludus Lit. iii. 22 How they may goe thus forward..in reading English perfitly.

1692 J. Locke Some Thoughts conc. Educ. §163 When he can speak and read French well..he should proceed to Latin.

1779 S. Johnson Milton in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets II. 137 He read all the languages which are considered either as learned or polite.

1796 J. Clarke Lett. to Student in Univ. Cambr., Mass. viii. 76 To read the French language with ease; to speak it with propriety; and to write it correctly, are enviable attainments.

1828 E. Bulwer-Lytton Pelham I. ii. 11 I could read Greek fluently, and even translate it.

1873 P. G. Hamerton Intellect. Life iii. vii. 109 By far the shortest way to learn to read a language is to begin by speaking it.

1938 F. S. Fitzgerald Let. May (1964) 31 I thought I'd read Italian to read Dante and didn't get to first base.

1970 A. J. P. Taylor Let. 23 Apr. in Lett. to Eva (1991) 7 I got a..letter in Russian, and as I can't read Russian except with difficulty threw it away.

2002 F. Spufford Child that Bks. Built (2003) iii. 67 You can read English, or Arabic, or Russian, or Hindi by learning between twenty and thirty different squiggles, plus a few punctuation marks.

c. transitive. To follow, interpret, or be able to interpret (musical notation); spec. to sight-read (music) (sight-read vb. at sight n.¹ Compounds 3). Also used intransitively.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > perform (music) [verb (transitive)] > read music

sight-read1903

society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > perform music [verb (intransitive)] > read music

sight-read1903

see1955

1754 J. Barrow Suppl. New & Universal Dict. at Accompaniment Suppose, that, before we attempt Accompaniment, we have waited..till we know how to read music fast.

1792 H. Newdigate Let. Mar. in A. E. Newdigate-Newdegate Cheverels (1898) ix. 133 They are quite astonish'd with her knowledge of Music & facility in reading it.

1835 New-Eng. Mag. Oct. 309 Many pupils in these classes read music more readily..than the leaders of choirs.

1889 G. B. Shaw in Star 24 May 4/2 The few who are really able to read at sight.

1938 D. Baker Young Man with Horn i. v. 56 Jeff's band didn't play from music, though they could all read music.

1976 Star (Sheffield) 3 Dec. 16/7 (advt.) Organist required for a 9-day period at Christmas. Must be able to read.

2006 Philadelphia Oct. 28/1 The 37-year-old..has never had formal training and doesn't read a note of music.

d. transitive. To go through (books, newspapers, etc.) systematically in order to look for quotations suitable for use as illustrative examples in a dictionary, etc. Also with against (the dictionary or other source used for the purposes of comparison).

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > reading > [verb (transitive)] > read for illustrative examples

1876 J. A. H. Murray Let. 29 Nov. in K. M. E. Murray Caught in Web of Words (1977) vii. 146 I dont for words of that kind believe in the quotation test at all..because you know that not one millionth of current literature is read.

1961 R. W. Burchfield in Ess. & Stud. 14 39 A large number of literary sources..are being systematically read against an Oxford dictionary.

1990 Dictionaries 28 He worked systematically at reading selected texts and recording instances of words and phrases.

a. intransitive. To scan writing, so as to take in the sense; to peruse or occupy oneself in perusing books, etc. Also with adverbs, as away, on, etc.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > reading > [verb (intransitive)]

readOE

OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Mark xiii. 14 Qui legit intellegat : seðe redes oncnauað [OE West Saxon Gospels: Corpus Cambr. ongyte se þe ræt].

OE Vercelli Homilies (1992) iii. 82 Wiotodlice swa hwa swa wile symle mid Gode bion, he sceal gelomlice hine gebiddan & rædan. For þam þonne we us gebiddaþ, þonne sprecaþ we wið God, & þonne we rędaþ, þonne spricþ God wið us.

OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 261 Doctus sum; nam legi ic eom gelæred; soðlice, ic rædde.

c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 27 Ah lokið swa ich bidde ow þet ȝe ne beon neauer idel ah wurchen oðer reden.

c1390 Castle of Love (Vernon) (1967) 1243 Clerkes þat conne reden.

c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Wife of Bath's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) Prol. l. 765 Sodeynly thre leues haue I plyght Out of his book right as he radde.

1471 G. Ripley Compound of Alchymy Ep., in E. Ashmole Theatrum Chem. Britannicum (1652) 111 If it please your Highnes for to reade, Of divers Sulphurs.

1483 W. Caxton tr. Caton A ij b He that redeth and no thynge understondeth.

1561 in D. H. Fleming Reg. Christian Congregation St. Andrews 127 He is nocht letterit nor can reid.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) ii. i. 52 Heere, read, read: perceiue how I might bee knighted.

1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd iv. 319 Who reads Incessantly,..Uncertain and unsettl'd still remains.

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones I. i. i. 6 We doubt not but our Reader may be rendered desirous to read on for ever.

1760 R. Griffith & E. Griffith Lett. Henry & Frances (ed. 2) I. Pref. p. vi I used to take out a parcel from this collection..and so read away.

1811 L.-M. Hawkins Countess & Gertrude IV. lxvii. 39 ‘I suppose you read a great deal then,’ said Lady Elma, gawkily.

1887 M. E. Braddon Like & Unlike I. i. 13 She had read and thought much in those years.

1933 E. O'Neill Ah, Wilderness! i. 23 Gosh, he's always reading now. It's not my idea of having a good time in vacation.

1990 M. S. Peck Bed by Window iv. 82 Nothing disturbed her when she was reading. Bertha's real life lay in between the pages of her novels.

2006 Birmingham (Alabama) News (Nexis) 1 Mar. 1 n I love to read, and I want others to love to read as much as I do.

†b. intransitive. With on or upon. To study or browse in; to peruse or look through. Also: to read aloud from. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

lOE St. Giles (Corpus Cambr. 303) (1980) 101 Þa geseawon hi ætforen heom an scræf, and æt þæs scræfes dure sæt an litel man, and rædde on anre boc.

a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 141 (MED) Ðanne we on boke radeð, ðanne spekeð godd wið us.

c1300 (c1250) Floris & Blauncheflur (Cambr.) (1966) l. 578 Heo set at hire boke, And haþ þeron irad & loke.

c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Wife of Bath's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) Prol. l. 763 Whan I say he wolde neuere fyne To reden on this cursed book al nyght.

c1425 (?a1400) Arthur (Longleat 55) 634 Ho þat woll more loke, Reed on þe frensch boke.

c1480 (a1400) St. Peter 711 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 27 Angelis..brocht fra criste to hym a buk..and all þe wordis petir one rad.

1568 (a1500) Freiris Berwik 331 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1930) IV. 270 Quhylis still he satt in studeing and vþir quhylis vpoun his buk reding.

1635 E. Pagitt Christianographie 30 Comming on a Sunday into one of their Congregations..he found one sitting in the midst of them,..reading on a Bible in the Chaldean tongue.

1642 J. Milton Apol. Smectymnuus 9 To take them nightly to read on and after make them his pillow.

1720 A. Pennecuik Streams from Helicon (ed. 2) i. 75 My Aunt, whom nane dare say has no Grace, Was reading on the Pilgrim's Progress.

1764 T. Reid Inq. Human Mind vi. §16 Before the other eye was placed a printed book, at such a distance as that he could read upon it.

1830 J. Hogg in Blackwood's Mag. Nov. 738 Read on our Bibles, pray bedeen.

c. intransitive. With in. To study or browse in; to peruse. Now rare.

ΚΠ

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 70 (MED) Nou ssel þanne þe ilke þet ine þise boc ret yzy diligentliche to by y-ssriue.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 25953 (MED) Þir thre be takens thre-sum þat we Redand in þe gospell se þat crist al ras fra ded to lijf..þe first a man, [etc.].

1485 W. Caxton in Malory's Morte Darthur Pref. sig. iij Al noble lordes and ladyes..that shal see and rede in this sayd book.

1530 W. Tyndale Prol. Deut. in Wks. 21/2 This is a booke worthy to be read in, daye and night.

1569 ‘L. Avale’ Commem. Edmonde Boner Pref. sig. A^v Then the fellowe on the other side of the walle, reade in the Bible to hymself alone.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Richard II (1623) iv. i. 266 Giue me that Glasse, and therein will I reade.

1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress (ed. 2) 3 He was (as he was wont) reading in his Book.

1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 219 As I was reading in the Bible, and taken up with very serious Thoughts about my present Condition, I was surpriz'd with a Noise of a Gun.

1767 I. Bickerstaff Love in City Pref. p. ii Half an hour's reading in the Oeconomy of Human Life, would have enabled me to ring the changes on them through my three acts.

1820 R. Southey Life Wesley II. 140 Neither had he read in any devotional book.

a1894 R. L. Stevenson In South Seas (1896) iii. ii. 236 He lay on the floor upon a bed of mats, reading in his Gilbert Island Bible with compunction.

1942 R. Chandler Let. 16 July in Sel. Lett. (1981) 21 I was reading in an English book the other day and noticed the remark.

d. intransitive. To act as a publisher's reader (reader n. 2d), assessing and reporting on works offered for publication.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > printing > publishing > publisher > [verb (intransitive)] > act as publisher's reader

1850 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis II. iii. 27 Warrington artfully inspired the two gentlemen who ‘read’ for Messrs. Bacon and Bungay with the greatest curiosity regarding ‘Walter Lorraine’.

1891 G. Gissing New Grub St. I. vi. 122 She..liked to know who ‘read’ for the publishing-houses.

1956 P. Scott Male Child ii. i. 112 I..asked her whether she had ever read for a publisher.

1978 S. Hodges Gollancz iii. 64 They went on reading for him [sc. Gollancz].

1990 L. Lamplugh Shadowed Man 17 It is astonishing that he had time to read for a publisher.

7. figurative.

a. transitive. To study, observe, or interpret (a phenomenon, an object) as though by reading. Now spec.: to analyse or interpret (any cultural product, as a film, ritual, etc.) using methodology analogous to literary criticism or interpretation.

ΚΠ

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Physician's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 107 In hir lyuyng maydens myghten rede As in a book euery good word or dede That longeth to a mayden vertuous.

1581 J. Hamilton Catholik Traictise ii. f. 34^v Thou hes red (sayis he) the varkis of the varld.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) v. i. 291 Ol. How now, art thou mad? Clo. No Madam, I do but reade madnesse.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iv. iv. 174 Hee'l stand and reade As 'twere my daughters eyes.

1665 J. Glanvill Scepsis Scientifica xxv. 154 These are the Alphabet of Science, and Nature cannot be read without them.

1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna iv. viii. 79 All the ways of men among mankind he read.

1859 W. Mathews Two Homes III. li. 127 Edward has done violence to his pride; I can read his behaviour.

1923 Music & Lett. 4 304 Bartok..does not subject his native prepossessions to the veneer of cosmopolitanism... This, at least, is how we read his art.

1969 P. McCaughey Austral. Abstr. Art 28 We are made to read the painting and..unravel its complex visual rhythms.

1999 M. K. Booker Film & Amer. Left 72 There are a number of subtle suggestions that we are to read the film as an oblique commentary on the Spanish Civil War.

b. transitive. To make out the character or nature of (a person, or his or her heart, thoughts, desires, etc.) by studying and interpreting outward signs. Now esp. in to read (a person's) mind: to guess, intuit, or discern exactly what a person is thinking or intending to do.to read a person like a book: see to read (also know) like a book at book n. Phrases 2m.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > disposition or character > shape inclinations of, dispose [verb (transitive)] > make out character

reada1425

to see through ——a1450

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > interpretation > interpret [verb (transitive)] > character

reada1425

translate1584

expound1605

a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (1987) iv. l. 1364 For which, as wisly God my soule rede, I kan nat sen wherof ye sholden drede.

?1592 Trag. Solyman & Perseda sig. D^v If heauens were iust, men should haue open brests, That we therein might read their guilefull thoughts.

1609 R. Jones Mvsicall Dreame viii. sig. E2^v Farewell fond youth, if thou hadst not bin blind out of my eye thou mightst haue read my minde.

1647 N. Bacon Hist. Disc. Govt. sig. B3 Historians, who for the most part doe read men.

1712 J. Swift Proposal for Eng. Tongue 24 This they call knowing the world, and reading Men and Manners.

1782 F. Burney Cecilia I. ii. vii. 285 You are much deceived; you have been reading your own mind, and thought you had read his.

1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Alice I. i. x. 88 I wish you could read my heart at this moment.

1875 H. E. Manning Internal Mission of Holy Ghost vii. 177 The eye of the soul acquires a discernment whereby some can instantly read the characters of others.

1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. (at cited word) Anybody could read 'ee.

1927 D. K. Henderson & R. D. Gillespie Text-bk. Psychiatry 88 In other cases the patient believes that someone reads his thoughts.

1957 J. Braine Room at Top (1960) 221 ‘If you tell me what's wrong, I can do something about it,’ I said. ‘I can't read your mind.’

1991 Independent 16 Dec. 1/4 As Director of Counter-Terrorism she brought ‘a dramatic ability to read the terrorists' intentions and second-guess them’.

2002 R. Gervais & S. Merchant Office: Scripts 1st Ser. Episode 3. 109 We sort of read each other's minds..and we just start cracking up.

c. transitive. To assess precisely any indications or clues given out by (a location, situation, etc.) in order to decide on a course of action.Frequently used of a competitor in sporting matches making a strategic judgement about the state of play or the intentions of an opponent.

ΚΠ

1921 P. L. Haworth Trailmakers of Northwest 206 As Brennan had lost one eye and could not see any too well out of the other, he was glad to have one of us ride in his canoe and read water for him.

1948 R. B. Jackson Joe Namath, Superstar 30 He found his toughest job was learning to ‘read’ the defense for the type of pass coverage it was about to employ.

1965 R. Priestley & T. H. Wisdom Good Driving xi. 81 You get into the habit of registering mentally all the signs..which enable you to ‘read’ the road in front of you.

1974 J. D. Jennings in J. Billard World of Amer. Indian 48 (caption) Hohokam men carve a channel, probably ‘reading’ the terrain and choosing a route by eye.

2007 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 14 Sept. Sports, 56 I sit back there and read the opposing quarterback on every play.

a. transitive. In early use: to study (a subject), esp. at a university or similar institution. Now (chiefly British): to study (an academic subject) for a university degree; to study for (a degree). Cf. sense 6d.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > learning > study > [verb (transitive)] > study at university

readc1405

c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Franklin's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 412 Yonge clerkes that been lykerous To reden [v.rr. rendyn; lerne] Artz that been curious Seken in euery halke and euery herne Particuler sciences for to lerne.

c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 4360 (MED) Ne rede we [ Hist. de preliis non discimus] neuire na retorik ne rial to speke.

1531 J. Bellenden tr. H. Boece Chron. Scotl. (1938) I. vii. iii. 271 He had nocht xx ȝeris of aige quhen he red rethorik in Cartage.

1602 L. Lloyd Stratagems of Ierusalem ii. vii. 178 Arete,..after her fathers death..read philosophie in Athens.

a1679 R. Wild Benefice (1689) iv. 42 We read Philosophy, Logick, Divinity.—We learn the Tongues—Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, to fit us for the Church.

1706 J. Vanbrugh Mistake iv. i. 39 I have been Servitor in a Colledge at Salamancho, and read Philosophy with the Doctors.

1782 E. Hasted Hist. Kent II. 716/2 Stephen de Faversham, in 1324, was a monk of Christ Church, Canterbury, and the first of the sort who read divinity in that monastery.

1884 G. Allen Strange Stories 175 Since I have begun reading philosophy for my Greats.

1900 C. C. Munn Uncle Terry 55 I tutored some, read law, and was admitted to the bar.

1966 Rep. Comm. Inq. (Univ. of Oxf.) II. 49 Graduates reading first degrees.

1977 Professional Careers Bull. Autumn 1/1 Partially it has been due to an ever increasing demand from sixth formers to read law.

2003 Church Times 14 Feb. 27/2 He..won a state scholarship to read history at Lincoln College, Oxford.

b. intransitive. To study a subject through a course of reading (esp. in preparation for an examination); to study. Cf. to read up 2a at Phrasal verbs.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > learning > study > [verb (intransitive)] > by reading

to read up1837

1803 ‘Pembrochian’ Gradus ad Cantabrigiam 111 To read, (a very emphatical word);..‘To read for an honour.’

1823 M. Wilmot Let. 1 Oct. (1935) 202 I trust that Edw^d may obtain the gold medal which he is reading for.

1859 F. W. Farrar Julian Home x. 120 [He] was reading for honours.

1863 E. C. Gaskell Dark Night's Work xv. 271 You knew him at Hamley, I suppose? I remember his reading there with Mr. Ness.

1938 E. C. Lodge Terms & Vacations iv. 51 Those of us who read for University schools went to the different Colleges to lectures.

1991 S. Muthiah Words in Indian Eng. 132 He is reading in the 2nd class.

2000 R. McTair in N. Hopkinson Whispers from Cotton Tree Root 81 I would enter an English Academy to read for a degree.

a. transitive. To attach a certain meaning or interpretation to (a text); to take in a particular way.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > interpretation > particular interpretation, construction > interpret in particular way [verb (transitive)]

understandc1000

interpretc1380

construea1400

construec1465

to make (a) construction1528

expound1533

confera1555

reada1556

decipher1569

resemble1592

intellect1599

a1556 N. Udall Ralph Roister Doister (?1566) iv. vi. sig. G.ij^v Dyd not I for the nonce..Reade his letter in a wrong sense for daliance?

a1593 C. Marlowe Edward II (1594) sig. L1 But read it thus, and thats an other sence:..Vnpointed as it is, thus shall it goe.

1624 R. Montagu Gagg for New Gospell? xxv. 201 Secondly, read it how you will, it is not to purpose.

1702 N. Wyles Sinners Folly Discovered 8 There be some who read these words Two Ways.

1811 C. Lamb in Reflector 2 434 Read it in an ironical sense, and as a piece of covered satire.

1890 Sir N. Lindley in Law Times Rep. 63 690/1 I think there are two methods of reading that order.

1950 Times 22 Feb. 7/3 An equally inconspicuous reference in one of the pamphlets..was afterwards read as having notified the country of the party's intention.

1969 Listener 30 Jan. 157/2 David Haworth's Observer report on a demarcation dispute in Barrow may be read as a classic story of an employer setting two unions against each other.

2004 Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Dec. 15/4 Aksyonov's..novel can be read as allegory.

b. transitive. In extended use: to take a particular view of (a person, thing, event, etc.); to regard or interpret in a certain way.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > expressed belief, opinion > mental attitude, point of view > view in particular way [verb (transitive)]

seea1325

perceive1884

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > interpretation > interpret [verb (transitive)]

unloukOE

areadOE

spele?c1225

inredec1315

expounda1340

construe1399

interpretate1517

explain1538

scan1562

disentraverse1610

unspherea1616

explicate1628

spell1635

disenvelop1741

extract1775

interpret1795

clarify1823

to read between the lines1866

the mind > mental capacity > belief > expressed belief, opinion > hold an opinion [verb (transitive)] > form an opinion > of a certain kind

regard?1518

take1518

contain1602

1847 A. Helps Friends in Council I. i. 10 This is a matter which, as I read it, concerns only the higher natures.

1866 J. Martineau Ess. Philos. & Theol. 1st Ser. 190 Every relative disability may be read two ways.

1968 R. Severn Game for Hawks x. 120 ‘How d'you read her, Cass?’ he asked, sourly. ‘Could she be taking you for a ride?’

1991 M. E. Wertsch Military Brats x. 321 Both overachievement and underachievement by military brats can be read as efforts by outsiders to reach out for recognition.

2005 N.Y. Mag. 4 Apr. 49/3 His makeup can be read as an extreme racial-identity crisis.

10. transitive. To adopt or present as a reading in a particular passage; to substitute or understand (a word or phrase) for another when reading, in order to correct or alter the sense of a passage. In later use frequently ironic.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > literary and textual criticism > textual criticism > version of text > create version of text [verb (transitive)] > adopt or give as reading

the world > time > change > exchange > substitution > substitute [verb (transitive)] > in speech or writing

1563 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1890) II. 83/1 In the x. leif, i. face, xi. line, reid left.

1631 W. Gouge Gods Three Arrowes iii. §71. 315 Where they found Iehovah expressed, they read Adonai, which is pointed with the same pricks.

1697 R. Bentley Diss. Epist. Phalaris 20 I cannot..comprehend why the most learned Is. Casaubon will read σπεύδοντα in this passage, and not σπένδοντα.

1759 T. Ruddiman Animadver. Vind. Buchanan 60 Instead of..sexagesimo quinto, we should read,..sexagesimo nono.

1789 B. Franklin Autobiogr. (1964) iii. 229 The Bill express'd that all Estates real and personal were to be taxed, those of the Proprietaries not excepted. His Amendment was; for not read only. A small but very material Alteration!

1847 F. Madden Laȝamon's Brut III. 346 For Lovaine some copies of Wace read Alemaigne.

1868 M. E. Grant Duff Polit. Surv. 16 For monasteries, we should read convents, mission-houses, and seminaries.

1905 N.E.D. at Marriage Modern editors read marriage rite or rites [for marriage sight in Shakespeare's Pericles xv. 17].

1966 ‘A. Hall’ 9th Directive xxi. 193 For snatch read abduction. For swop read exchange. Never a bloody spade.

2003 Independent 8 Oct. 16/2 His priority was policing for ‘local people’,..pledging a much bigger role for ‘local action’ (for which read mob rule).

11. In extended use: to scan and interpret (something presenting information in an encoded form).

a. transitive. To consult or interpret (a map, plan, or the like). See also map-read v.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > reading > [verb (transitive)] > to decipher or interpret, read

areadc885

unspell1665

reada1681

decipher1709

to make out1715

render1864

a1681 J. Lacy Sr. Hercules Buffoon (1684) iv. ii. 33 La. Greenland you know lies under the Line. Her. It does so; thou hast travell'd or read Maps I find.

1712 Some Remarks on Lett. between L—d T—d & Mr. Se—tary B—le 10 One would hardly have thought it possible, that any Man who had..Knowledge enough to read a Map..could suffer himself to be so grossly impos'd upon.

1771 J. Bethune Ess. Var. Subj. (new ed.) I. 211 One who would undertake to travel without a guide because he had read a map of the country.

1874 Proc. Royal Geogr. Soc. 19 70 A model of the ground may be used..to teach the reading of a map of the same area.

1934 Archit. Rev. 75 66 (caption) Isolux diagram. This should be read similar to a contour map.

1974 Times 19 Feb. 15/3 Most people are not used to ‘reading’ plans..and have only slightly less difficulty with architectural photographs.

1992 Joiners' Q. No. 33. 43/2 This workshop will enable students to read plans and understand the arcane mysteries of..construction drawings.

2007 Bristol Evening Post (Nexis) 13 Sept. 44 New research released this week reveals that about 11 million motorists cannot read a basic road map.

b. transitive. To study and expound the meaning of (something supposed to give indications of the future or the occult, as a person's palm, an animal's entrails, etc.). Also in figurative context.

ΚΠ

1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall II. xxiii. 373 To draw forth the heart or liver, and to read, with the consummate skill of an haruspex, the imaginary signs of future events.

1782 W. Cowper Charity in Poems 197 He reads the skies.

1851 M. Reid Scalp Hunters II. iv. 49 Indians can ‘read’ the smoke at a great distance.

1867 Craig Palmistry 42 One of the greatest of all difficulties in reading the hand.

1932 L. Golding Magnolia St. ii. ii. 300 In the little town in..Lancashire where she was born quite as many people read tea-leaves as read their ABC.

1936 ‘J. Tey’ Shilling for Candles vii. 84 Lydia..had read their palms, cheiromancy being a side-line of hers when horoscopes were not available.

1978 Monitor (McAllen, Texas) 12 Feb. 1- b/1 This generation of Gypsies will give up many of the old customs... My job was supposed to be reading palms.

1994 A. Gurnah Paradise (1995) 112 Don't you know any spells? Why don't you slaughter a goat and read its stomach?

2002 BusinessWeek 16 Dec. 160/2 Will the next chairman be able to read the entrails of economic data the way Greenspan can?

c. transitive. To take a measurement, reading, indication, etc., from (an instrument, dial, scale, etc.). Also with the measurement, etc., as object, and intransitive. Cf. to read off 1 at Phrasal verbs.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > measurement > measuring instrument > measure by or as an instrument [verb (transitive)] > measure by means of instruments > note a reading from an instrument

to read off1755

1818 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 1 216 The second thermometer could not be read for want of a fourth assistant.

1857 Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 27 227 I would have been spared the trouble of new soundings..by merely adding to the depth of every partial section such increase..which I read on the scale.

1890 ‘W. A. Wallace’ Only a Sister 88 What's a man worth that cannot read his own watch?

1903 Amer. Anthropologist 5 82 Stature was recorded in centimeters, reading to the nearest unit, and weight in kilograms, reading to tenths.

1955 Calif. Law Rev. 43 718 It was not decided whether the arresting officer must personally read the radar meter.

1991 R. Ludlum Bourne Ultimatum iii. 25 Conklin..looked at his watch, squinting to read the dial.

2006 A. G. van der Valk Biol. Freshwater Wetlands ii. 26 A simple staff gauge that is read periodically by eye.

d. transitive. Textiles. To interpret (a design) in terms of the setting up needed to reproduce it on a loom. Also with in.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > [verb (transitive)] > weave > interpret design

1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 267 In both modes of manufacture, the piece is mounted by reading-in the warp for the different leaves of the heddles.

1895 T. F. Bell Jacquard Weaving & Designing i. 9 The straight-edge EE..will slide up and down in the frame, to mark the line on the design paper that is next to be read by the lasher.

1924 T. Woodhouse Jacquards & Harness iv. 107 Before describing the remaining parts of the machine, it will..be best to indicate how the design is read.

1958 A. Hindson Designer's Drawloom xi. 105 The weaver can tie up the pattern single-handed, but it can be done more easily and quickly if there is a helper to read the pattern draft.

1992 A. Field Ashford Bk. Weaving 118/1 Threading Draft. This is also called the draft notation, and is the top, left quadrant of the pattern draft. It is read from right to left.

e. transitive. Computing. To copy or extract data that is on or in (a data storage medium or device); to copy or extract (such data); to transfer (data) into, out of, or from an electronic device. Cf. to read in 3 at Phrasal verbs, to read out 4 at Phrasal verbs.

ΘΚΠ

society > computing and information technology > data > database > use data [verb (transitive)] > store > copy or transfer

to read out1946

copy1953

dump1956

list1958

recall1966

to roll out1969

import1977

upload1977

export1982

1940 W. J. Eckert Punched Card Methods 4 The number are..read into the machines by..electrical contacts made through the holes.

1945 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. 240 277 When the punched tapes are ready, the problem is placed on the machine by automatic controls which ‘read’ the first tape.

1950 High-speed Computing Devices (Engin. Res. Associates) ix. 151 The tape reader automatically reads punched tape..and transcribes the data represented by the holes in the tape to a deck of cards.

1959 E. M. McCormick Digital Computer Primer ix. 135 The tape is then connected into the computer system and the information read from it to the computer.

1964 F. L. Westwater Electronic Computers iv. 59 To read a word out of the store we have to open a gate at the end, and this permits pulses to escape.

1986 S. L. Mandell Working with Applic. Software ii. 32 Data stored on magnetic disks or magnetic drums does not have to be read in order from the beginning.

1993 R. J. Pond Introd. Engin. Technol. (ed. 2) x. 294 The same technology that has put so much quality music on a small disc can also read surprisingly large amounts of data into a computer.

2002 Sci. Amer. Oct. 73/2 The magnetic recording industry uses magnetoresistor elements to read information stored on computer disks.

f. transitive. Biology. To interpret or extract genetic information from (a particular nucleic acid sequence), esp. during the process of genetic transcription or translation; to interpret or extract (genetic information).

ΚΠ

1957 F. H. C. Crick et al. in Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 43 418 We further assume that all possible sequences of the amino acids may occur (that is, can be coded) and that at every point in the string of letters one can only read ‘sense’ in the correct way.]

1961 Nature 30 Dec. 1227/1 The sequence of the bases is read from a fixed starting point. This determines how the long sequences of bases are to be correctly read off as triplets.

1965 New Scientist 18 Mar. 713/2 An enzyme exists in cells (called ‘RNA polymerase’ or sometimes ‘transcriptase’) which is capable of reading the genic [sic] code.

1988 O. E. Butler Adulthood Rites (1991) i. iv. 24 He would have preferred to investigate further, to understand more of how the genetic information he read had been expressed.

1989 Nature 14 Sept. 166/2 According to the wobble rule, not only CUG but also CUA may be read to specify serine in C[andida] cylindracea.

2005 Daily Tel. 11 Aug. 9/1 The first genetic code of a food crop to be read in detail, the DNA of rice has 400 million genetic letters holding 37,544 genes.

g. transitive. Esp. of an electronic or other scanning or detecting device: to extract information from (an object) by acting on it optically, magnetically, chemically, etc.; to extract (information) in this way. Cf. sense 11e.

ΚΠ

1962 Proc. Symp. Optical Char. Recognition i. 16 (caption) An example of the actual printed output which optical scanners are required to read.

1967 R. R. Karch & E. J. Buber Graphic Arts Procedures: Offset Processes ii. 20 An optical system ‘reads’ the photograph, and a heated stylus is directed to penetrate the plate to be printed, producing halftone dots.

1979 SLR Camera Jan. 36/3 Like the now discontinued EF the AE-1 uses a silicon photocell to read the light.

1987 S. Brand Media Lab ii. xi. 220 Photographs and slides were read by a laser scanner in minute detail, translated into digital form, and stored in a computer.

1993 Economist 7 Aug. 80/1 Traffic cameras are already being taught to ‘read’ vehicle number plates.

h. transitive. To detect (an object) by remote sensing, esp. by sonar. Chiefly Navy slang.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > instrument for detection > of instrument, etc.: detect [verb (transitive)]

to pick up1857

sense1896

1974 L. Deighton Spy Story xviii. 193 A couple of conventional subs steaming a parallel course... We read them on the sonar and ranged them.

1984 T. Clancy Hunt for Red Oct. 356 I can read some plant and steam noises, but not enough for a signature.

1991 M. Joseph Typhoon xx. 145 If they read us at all, they'll think we're part of the ice keel.

12. transitive. To introduce (an idea, element, or meaning) into what is being read or considered, esp. as an erroneous interpretation. Cf. to read in 2 at Phrasal verbs.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > misinterpretation > misinterpret [verb (transitive)]

misunderstanda1225

mistake1402

misconstruea1425

miskenc1480

misgloze1532

misinterpret1547

missense1560

wrest1563

misdeem1570

misconceive1586

misconstruct1596

misinfer1597

misconceit1598

misknowa1600

to look beyond1600

lose1600

mismean1605

misprize1609

misread1612

misween1614

misimagine1626

misapprehend1628

construea1640

mislead1654

equivocate1665

misrender1674

misaccept1697

miscomprehend1813

misperceive1911

1879 H. Spencer Ceremonial Inst. in Princ. Sociol. §346 Men read back developed ideas into undeveloped minds.

1895 Sir A. Kekewich in Law Times Rep. 73 663/1 This is a sensible limitation which can easily be read into deed or will.

1925 E. Fraser & J. Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 223 Where the wording of the Drill Book is vague, units often read different meanings into the phraseology.

1953 J. E. Neale Elizabeth I & her Parliaments I. iv. i. 186 What he had in mind, it is difficult to guess: not as much, we may be sure, as some..read into his words.

1970 R. Johnston Black Camels of Qashran iv. 58 You don't think we're reading too much into this? You don't think that this attack..was once and for all?

2001 C. Coker Humane Warfare iii. 51 Hegel might well have read into the bombing of Hiroshima an example of the cunning of reason.

13.

a. intransitive. To receive and understand a message by radio (occasionally, by telephone).In most cases, formed by omission of me from Do you read me?

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > telecommunication > [verb (intransitive)] > receive

1930 Amer. Speech 5 289 The receiving operator ‘receives’, ‘copies’ or ‘reads’.

1966 D. Francis Flying Finish ii. 26 I said, ‘Port Ellen tower this is Golf Alpha Romeo Kilo November, do you read?’

1996 P. Godwin Mukiwa (1997) i. 7 ‘Blue nine, blue nine, do you read, over?’ said the voice on the radio.

b. transitive. To receive and understand the words of (a person) by radio (occasionally, by telephone). In extended use: to understand the words or intentions of (a person).In both literal and extended use, chiefly used as an acknowledgement in response to a message.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > understanding > understand [verb (transitive)]

yknoweOE

acknowOE

anyeteOE

latchc1000

undernimc1000

understandc1000

underyetec1000

afindOE

knowOE

seeOE

onfangc1175

takec1175

underfindc1200

underfonga1300

undertakea1300

kenc1330

gripea1340

comprehend1340

comprendc1374

espyc1374

perceivea1387

to take for ——?1387

catcha1398

conceivea1398

intenda1400

overtakea1400

tenda1400

havec1405

henta1450

comprise1477

skilla1500

brook1548

apprend1567

compass1576

perstanda1577

endue1590

sound1592

engrasp1593

in1603

fathom1611

resent1614

receivea1616

to take up1617

apprehend1631

to take in1646

grasp1680

understumblec1681

forstand1682

savvy1686

overstand1699

uptake1726

nouse1779

twig1815

undercumstand1824

absorb1840

sense1844

undercumstumble1854

seize1855

intelligize1865

dig1935

the mind > mental capacity > understanding > understand [verb (transitive)] > reach understanding of > words or meaning

takec1175

understanda1225

intenda1400

conceive?1526

accept1587

construe1622

to catch a person's drift1821

comprehend1860

to get on to ——1880

society > communication > telecommunication > [verb (transitive)] > receive > and understand

1956 Amer. Speech 31 228 [U.S.A.F. slang] Do you read me? As in conversation by radio, this means ‘Do you understand me?’.

1960 Master Detective July 83/1 Static-laced code crackle sounded from the speaker. ‘Poelzell. I read you. Keep the Dodge in sight.’

1967 R. J. Serling President's Plane is Missing (1968) ix. 164 ‘Don't be so oversolicitous, Rod. It's as bad for a marriage as being too inconsiderate. Do you read me?’ ‘I read you, Nancy.’

2003 L. Hawking Jaded v. 107 If anything suspicious happens, you are to contact Dennis straight away. Do not get involved, do you read me?

III. To learn through reading or examination.

14.

a. transitive. To see or find (a statement, fact, etc.) in a written or otherwise recorded form; to learn (about) from a book or other document. Frequently with clause as object; formerly sometimes constructed with object and infinitive or participle.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > reading > [verb (transitive)] > find or learn by reading

readOE

findOE

seea1325

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > interpretation > particular interpretation, construction > interpret in particular way [verb (transitive)] > with additional element

OE (Mercian) Rushw. Gospels: Matt. xxi. 42 Quid non legistis in scripturis lapidem quem reprobauerunt aedificantes hic factus est in capud anguli : hwæt uel ah ge næfre reordun in gewritum stan þæm thi wiðcurun timbrade se gewarð in heafod hwommes.

OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xii. 3 Ne rædde ge hwæt Dauid dyde þa hyne hingrede?

c1175 ( Homily (Bodl. 343) in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 168 We rædeð on bocum þæt þissere weorlde tide stondæþ on six ylde.

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 190 (MED) Me ret ine þe lyue of Ion þe amoner..A riche ientilman wes y-robbed of þieues.

c1405 (c1375) G. Chaucer Monk's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 321 Hir batailles, who so list hem for to rede..Lat hym vn to my maister Petrak go.

c1475 (?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 7 (MED) Men redun not þat ani of þe apostles grauntid silk indulgencis.

1532 (c1385) Usk's Test. Loue in Wks. G. Chaucer i. f. cccxxx Raddest thou neuer howe Paris of Troye and Heleyne loued togyder?

a1575 N. Harpsfield Treat. Divorce Henry VIII (1878) (modernized text) 268 The terrible punishment..the like whereof I never read sent to any.

1661 R. Boyle Some Consider. Style of Script. (1675) 88 We sometimes read him to have Answer'd, without being ask'd the Question.

1664 H. More Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity 206 He has left some Oracular Records wherein a man may read..the State and Condition of the Church.

1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. i. vi. 100 Ingratitude is among them a capital Crime, as we read it to have been in some other Countries.

a1771 T. Gray Jemmy Twitcher in Gentleman's Mag. (1782) lii. 40 The prophet of Bethel, we read, told a lie.

1839 H. W. Longfellow Beleaguered City i I have read, in some old marvellous tale,..That a midnight host of spectres pale Beleagured the walls of Prague.

1881 A. Trollope Ayala's Angel III. xlv. 22 Had she not read that angels had come from heaven and taken in marriage the daughters of men?

1920 Amer. Woman Aug. 13/3 (advt.) See what Pepsodent does. Read the reason in the book we send.

1989 V. Tanzer Seagulls hate Parsnips ii. xvii. 111 As they grow, we read, they keep shedding their skins.

2004 Observer 16 May (Mag.) 53/3 We now read that men are to be targeted with a range of pink summer wearables by the high-street fashion chains.

b. intransitive. With of. To find mention, record, or discussion of in the course of reading; to learn about by reading; to read about.In quot. a1616, with of omitted.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > reading > [verb (transitive)] > read of

read?c1225

OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xxiv. 228 We rædað be sumon wife, þe wæs twelf gear geuntrumod.]

?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 178 Of þet oðer me redeð þet he gredde lude to seint bartolomeu.

c1300 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) 11337 Her man may reade of Arthur..hou he twalf ȝere suþþe wonede here.

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 50 Be zuych zenne heþ þe dyeuel wel grat miȝte in manne; Huer-of we redeþ ine þe godspelle.

c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xiv. 104 (MED) Þough men rede of richchesse riȝt to þe worldes ende, I wist neuere renke þat riche was..þat he ne dred hym sore.

c1484 (a1475) J. de Caritate tr. Secreta Secret. (Takamiya) (1977) 120 (MED) Þise chapytyllis serue but for to dyrecte a man in to qwat mater he wul rede of.

1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 80 Places towarde the south coast, of which neither I have heard of any credible person, nor yet red.

1597 Bp. J. King Lect. Ionas iv. 55 I read of a certaine people in Africke, who being troubled with the North winde,..they gathered an army of men to fight against it.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) i. ii. 424 Worse then the great'st Infection That ere was heard, or read .

1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ v. xxxix. 43 I have read of Caligulas horse that was made Consull.

1707 J. Norris Pract. Treat. Humility iv. 166 In the old creation we read of a void and inform mass.

1789 W. Cowper Annus Memorabilis 3 I read of bright embattled fields.

1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam xciii. 139 I read Of that glad year which once had been.

1896 Pall Mall Mag. Nov. 380 Fullblown detectives..the sort you read of in the thrillers!

1958 N. Gordimer World of Strangers xiii. 193 The people..read of strikes, of beer-hall riots.

1973 P. Arnold & C. Davis Hamlyn Bk. World Soccer 124/2 It is strange to read of Brazil being dispatched in the opening rounds of these first two World Cups.

2004 H. Strachan Make a Skyf, Man! viii. 82 I had read of techniques used by the Portuguese security police for the extraction of evidence.

15. figurative and in extended use.

a. transitive. To discern or discover (something) in (or on) the face, look, etc., of a person.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (transitive)] > perceive by visual tokens

seeOE

the world > action or operation > endeavour > searching or seeking > finding or discovery > find or discover [verb (transitive)] > detect

seec1300

perceivec1330

deprehend1523

wind1583

savour1602

subodorate1606

smoke1608

detect1756

to find out1883

1561 T. Hoby tr. B. Castiglione Courtyer iii. sig. Ll.i^v In their countenance and eyes reade what they haue in the hert.

a1586 Sir P. Sidney Astrophel & Stella (1591) 2 In Stellas face I reede, What loue and beauty be.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) iii. ii. 9 Muffle your false loue..Let not my sister read it in your eye.

1684 A. Behn Voy. to Isle of Love 69 in Poems Several Occasions In my languid Face she read my Pain.

1713 J. Addison in Guardian 18 Aug. 1/2 You read his Ancestry in his Smile.

1768 Woman of Honor II. 15 I red in her looks a willingness to come to an explanation.

1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna viii. xvii. 185 I cannot name All that I read of sorrow, toil, and shame, On your worn faces.

1860 Ld. Tennyson Sea Dreams 163 My eyes..Read rascal in the motions of his back.

1925 E. C. Eliot in B. C. Williams O. Henry Prize Stories of 1925 (1926) 177 In her swift glance Evelyn read longing, something unappeased.

1983 J. DeChancie Starrigger xxiii. 252 Perhaps she read the guilt in Darla's face, invisible to me.

2003 K. Kingsbury One Tuesday Morning xxiv. 241 From what he could read in her eyes, she loved him very much, maybe too much.

b. transitive. To learn or discover (a fact, truth, etc.) by study, interpretation of signs, etc. In later use merged with sense 2b.

ΚΠ

1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost ii. i. 109 Vouchsafe to read the purpose of my comming.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 1011 For proof look up, And read thy Lot in yon celestial Sign.

a1795 S. Bishop Poet. Wks. (1796) I. 115 The matron's tongue, Whose fertile fancy, by tradition led, In every object, Fate's dark purpose read.

1817 J. Mill Hist. Brit. India I. ii. ii. 111 The highest of the other classes are barely tolerated to read the will of God.

1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre III. ii. 53 It is in the unclouded night-sky..that we read clearest His infinitude.

1864 A. Trollope Can you forgive Her? I. xxxviii. 296 He had read the truth at a glance.

1916 J. Joyce Portrait of Artist ii. 87 As he marched from home to the school, he read his fate in the incidents of the way.

IV. To say written words or sentences aloud.

16.

a. transitive. To say aloud (the words or sentences of a written text as one scans them); to render (writing) in speech; to recite (a speech, narrative, etc.) from a written text (to a person).Frequently (since the late 17th cent.) to read aloud, to distinguish this from sense 5.In quots. 1621, 1827 intransitive in the progressive with passive meaning.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > speech > speech-making > recitation > recite [verb (transitive)] > read aloud

readOE

to read overc1380

to read out1534

prone1683

to read upa1691

to read off1808

to call off1846

OE Blickling Homilies 167 We gehyrdon, þa þa Esaias se witga ræden wæs þæt se Halga Gast..þurh hine be Sancte Iohanne cwæþ.

OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Exod. (Claud.) xxiv. 7 Moises..rædde his boc þam folce.

OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Cambr. Univ. Libr.) v. xix. 470 Mid ðy þæt gewrit ða wæs ræded beforan þam cyninge & monigum gelæredum werum & him geornlice wæs reht on his agen gereorde.

lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough interpolation) anno 675 Ða hi wæron þær gegaderod, þa leot he rædon þa gewrite þe seo papa þider seonde.

c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 220 Ȝe ancres ahen þis leaste stucche reden to ower wummen euche wike eanes.

c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 46 (MED) Ine þe alde laȝe þe redere Rede þe prophessye By wokke.

c1400 Brut (Rawl. B. 171) 82 (MED) When þis lettre was rade & alle men hit herde, þai were annoyede.

a1450 (c1412) T. Hoccleve De Regimine Principum (Harl. 4866) (1897) 2955 (MED) When þei [sc. laws] weren byfore hem I-radde, Þei made hem wondir wroth.

a1475 Sidrak & Bokkus (Lansd.) (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Washington) (1965) 188 (MED) Þei to him þis letter gan rede.

1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes f. 40 When he heard the dialogue of Plato entitleed Lysides, readen.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) iii. ii. 148 Read the Will, wee'l heare it Antony.

1621 in R. F. Williams Birch's Court & Times James I (1848) (modernized text) II. 249 While the proclamation was reading [etc.].

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 213 If we desired it, we might hear the Letter read.

1681 S. Colvil Mock Poem i. 49 Then answered the whole Croud, Bidding him read it out aloud.

1705 London Gaz. No. 4152/2 The Dean and Prebendaries sat within the Rails,..except such as Officiated in Reading Prayers.

1762 T. Sheridan Course Lect. on Elocution 64 I shall now read the text in the two ways, first in the usual manner, and afterwards in what I apprehend to be the right way.

1823 C. Lamb Old & New Schoolmaster in Elia 120 Doomed to read tedious homilies to distasting schoolboys.

1827 J. Bentham Rationale Judicial Evid. II. iii. xiii. 285 Oftentimes have I observed them, while affidavits have been reading, looking about to their brethren on the bench.

1871 Proc. Zool. Soc. 506 Prof. Flower, F.R.S., read a paper on the so-called Risso's Dolphin.

1925 M. Beerbohm Observ. 37 Before you go to sleepy-bye I'll read it to you.

1988 G. McCaughrean Pack of Lies i. 1 She even read a story to a group of toddlers who sat and tore books to pieces at her feet.

2006 S. Townsend Queen Camilla 137 She shuddered when she reflected on the sheer bloody embarrassment of having to read the Queen's Speech.

b. transitive. To submit (a proposed measure or bill) for consideration or debate by a council or legislative assembly by a formal recital of all or some part of it; hence, to debate (a bill) submitted in this way. Cf. reading n.¹ 2c.In quot. c1405, used of a plea or petition submitted to a judge.

ΘΚΠ

society > law > legislation > make (laws) or establish as law [verb (transitive)] > submit or introduce (a measure)

readc1405

introduce1817

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Physician's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 176 Virginius cam to wite the Iuges wille And right anon was rad this cursed bille.

1459 J. Bokkyng in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 187 The parlament as yet abideth vpon the grete materes of atteyndre and forfeture, and soo þere be many and diuerse particuler billes put jnne but noon redde ner touchyng vs.

1542 Acts (1814) II. 415/2 That thare was ane act instantlie red in faice of parliament that the haly write may be vsit in our vulgare toung.

1650 Acts (1877) VI. ii. 588/2 Act..redd voyted and past in parliament.

1656 H. Scobell Memorials i. 5 The first Business in the House is ordinarily to read a Bill that was not passed in the last Parliament preceding.

1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. iii. 179 The Bill was..immediately read the first and the second time, and so Committed.

1783 Hansard Parl. Hist. (1814) XXIII. 1224 [Mr. Fox's East India Bill] was read for the first time, and ordered to be printed.

1843 Sydney Morning Herald 23 Dec. 2/3 The Doubly Convicted Offenders' Bill was read..and passed.

1891 Sat. Rev. 8 Aug. 151/1 They read the Coinage Bill a third time.

1959 Earl Jowitt & C. Walsh Dict. Eng. Law II. 1610/1 The Select Vestries Bill is the title of a Bill always formally read a first time in the House of Lords at the beginning of a new session.

2006 Gold Coast Bull. (Austral.) (Nexis) 10 May 16 This is Treasurer Peter Costello's speech. Mr Speaker I move that the Bill now be read a second time.

17.

a. intransitive. To say aloud the words or sentences of a written text (to a person, etc.); to recite a speech, narrative, etc., from a written text. Also with adverbs, as away, on, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > speech > speak [verb (intransitive)] > what one is reading

readOE

OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Luke iv. 16 Intrauit..in synagogam et surrexit legere et traditus est illi liber prophetae Esaiae : ineade..in somnung & aras to redanne & gesald wæs him boc ðæs witges esaie .

c1175 ( in A. O. Belfour 12th Cent. Homilies in MS Bodl. 343 (1909) 56 Þe þe reden cunne, þe ræde; þe þe nan ne cunne, he lyste þam redendan.

c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 17286 Eȝȝwhær þær mann rædeþþ þe Off haliȝ witeȝhunnge.

c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 47 He toke ysaies bok Ine þe synagoge, and radde.

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Jer. xxxvi. 6 Go in þerfore, þou, & rede of þe volume..herende þe puple.

a1450 York Plays (1885) 162 Late se, sirs, in youre sawes Howe right þat ȝe can rede.

1556 in J. G. Nichols Chron. Grey Friars (1852) 56 Cardmaker, that rede in Powlles iij. tymes a weke.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) iii. i. 319 That fault may be mended with a breakfast: read on.

1677 J. Evelyn Diary 18 Sept. in Mem. (1819) 493 My Lord Chamberlaine..wanted a scholar to reade to & entertaine him sometimes.

1718 Free-thinker No. 7. 2 The Bridegroom..deposited one Moiety; and the Doctor read away.

1787 R. Burns Poems (new ed.) 148 Has..R******* again grown weel, To preach an' read?

1847 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) xiv. 131 ‘It may be generally observed of Dombey,’ said Miss Blimber, reading in a loud voice, [etc.].

1879 M. Pattison Milton 150 Then he went up to his study to be read to till six.

1928 D. H. Lawrence Lady Chatterley's Lover x. 163 ‘Shall we play a game, or shall I read to you, or what shall it be?’ he asked uneasily.

1996 F. McCourt Angela's Ashes (1997) vii. 196 Mrs. Minihan that's supposed to read to me didn't come.

2006 C. Frazier Thirteen Moons iv. vi. 354 I would read aloud to the Indians, translating on the fly, and they enjoyed those old tales immensely.

b. intransitive. Scottish. Of a minister: to read sermons, instead of preaching extempore or from memory.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > speech > speech-making > recitation > recite [verb (intransitive)] > read aloud > merely

1781 Reading not preaching ii. 6 To read, and not preach, is to deny the Spirit his office.

1888 J. M. Barrie Auld Licht Idylls iii To follow a pastor who ‘read’ seemed to the Auld Lichts like claiming heaven on false pretences.

c. intransitive. Of an actor: to audition (for); to rehearse for a role. Cf. to read in 4 at Phrasal verbs.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > acting > act [verb (transitive)] > audition or rehearse for (a part)

1943 S. Lewis Gideon Planish 71 ‘And will you read for it?’.. ‘You mean try and see if I can act one of the parts?’ ‘Professionally, we call it “read for a part”.’

1966 A. E. Lindop I start Counting ii. 44 She'd had a letter..asking her to report to the Jubilee Hall, where she was to read for the Amateur Dramatic Society.

2005 B. J. Shaver Honky Tonk Hero 58 He called in the mid-1990s and asked me to read for a part in a movie he was making.

†18.

a. transitive. To teach or impart (something, esp. an academic subject) to (in early use also into) another by (or as by) reading aloud. Also with with, or without construction. Obsolete.In Old English with dative of person.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > teaching > [verb (transitive)] > teach orally or lecture

readOE

catechize1623

lecture1681

OE Wulfstan 1st Sunday in Lent (Hatton 113) 235 Swa sceal eac of cyrican myrhðe for myclum gewyrhtum se man gebugan sume hwile þe healice agylte on openlicre synne, oð þæt he gebete mid myclum geswince, swa swa him tæce se ðe him ræde his godcundan þearfe.

a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 133 (MED) Ure helend saweð his halie word..hwile þurh ðere clerkene muðe, þe cunnen þe lare of halie boke, þe radeð and techeð godes laȝe in to þes monnes heorte.

c1300 St. Edmund Rich (Harl.) l. 225 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary (1956) 500 (MED) To arsmetrike he drouȝ & arsmetrike radde in cours in Oxenford.

?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1876) VI. 293 (MED) This clerke Albuinus..departede from kynge Charls..to whom he hade redde [L. docuit] logike, rethoryke, and astronomye.

1560 J. Knox et al. Buke Discipline in J. Knox Wks. (1848) II. 210 A Colledge, in whiche the Artis..be read be sufficient Maisteris.

1602 B. Jonson Poetaster i. iii. sig. B4^v We may read Constancy and Fortitude, To other soules.

a1637 B. Jonson Sad Shepherd ii. v. 30 in Wks. (1640) III Are these the Arts Robin, you read your rude ones o'the wood?

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 215 He understood Astrology, and read Euclid to some of his Disciples.

1774 T. Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry I. Diss. ii. sig. i4 The professors of grammar are directed to read to their pupils De Historiis Alexandri, among which I include Gualtier's poem.

1792 A. Kippis Life of Dr. Doddridge in P. Doddridge Family Expositor (ed. 7) I. p. clix The system of Algebra which he read to his pupils was of his own composition.

1885 A. Edwardes Girton Girl I. iii. 68 Geoffrey Arbuthnot, B.A. Cantab., is willing to read classics and mathematics with Miss Bartrand. Terms, five shillings an hour.

b. intransitive. To give instruction by means of reading aloud; to lecture or discourse of or upon a subject. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > teaching > [verb (intransitive)] > lecture or discourse

readc1300

instruct1510

lecturea1592

prelect1745

c1300 St. Edmund Rich (Laud) 521 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 446 Ȝif þou me drifst out of þi lond..Ich can rede at parys..And þare-with winne me mete i-novȝ.

c1300 St. Edmund Rich (Harl.) l. 222 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary (1956) 499 (MED) So wel lurnede þis holi man..Þat he bigan at Oxenford & of art þer radde.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 13879 He [sc. Jesus] began þaim..For to redde [a1400 Trin. Cambr. preche] and to sermon [a1400 Fairf. rede a gode sarmoun].

a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) 7691 I am licenced boldely To Reden in Diuinite And longe haue red.

a1500 Ratis Raving (Cambr. Kk.1.5) l. 143 in R. Girvan Ratis Raving & Other Early Scots Poems (1939) 5 To ler sciens that master redis.

1576 A. Fleming tr. Erasmus in Panoplie Epist. 341 In that College it was his happie lucke, to reade in the open schooles in Latine.

1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 iii. i. 44 Where is he liuing..Which cals me pupil or hath read to me.

1618 G. Strode Anat. Mortalitie 1 The Statute which I haue chosen to reade vpon.

1691–2 A. Wood Life 6 Jan. (1894) III The Master of Pembroke College suffers him to read to Scholars of his house.

1708 J. Collier Second Def. Short View Eng. Stage 434 To read upon a putrified Carcass, and shew Nature, to the Affront of Religion.

1786 Gentleman's Mag. Mar. 262/1 Each professor is to read two hours in each week.

1853 C. M. Yonge Heir of Redclyffe I. iv. 57 Philip should see whether Mr. Lascelles, a curate.., would read with Guy a few hours in every week.

1891 Daily News 26 Sept. 7/5 A Cambridge honoursman will..read with pupils.

c. transitive. To teach or give (a person) a knowledge of (something). Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > teaching > [verb (transitive)]

i-taechec888

lerec900

iwisseOE

to teach a personc1000

wisc1000

ylereOE

avayc1315

readc1330

learna1382

informc1384

beteacha1400

form1399

kena1400

redec1400

indoctrinea1450

instructc1449

ensign1474

doctrine1475

introduct1481

lettera1500

endoctrinec1500

to have (a person) in schooling?1553

lesson1555

tutor1592

orthographize1596

pupil1599

con1612

indoctrinate1621

art1628

doctrinate1631

document1648

verse1672

documentizea1734

form1770

intuit1776

skill1809

indoctrinize1861

c1330 (?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Auch.) l. 170 Gij a forster fader hadde, Þat him lerd & him radde Of wodes & riuer & oþer game.

d. transitive (in passive). Of a pupil: to be instructed or become learned in a subject. Cf. read adj. 1a. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > [verb (intransitive)]

read?1458

study1569

educationize1835

?1458 H. Windsor in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 175 William hath goon to scole..to lern and to be red in poetre or els in Frensh.

†19.

a. transitive. To declare, relate, or say, by or as by reading aloud. Obsolete (archaic in later use).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > speech > narration > narrate, relate, or tell [verb (transitive)]

singc900

reckonOE

readOE

tellOE

showc1175

betellc1275

i-tellec1275

rehearsec1300

record1340

accounta1387

to chase forthc1386

retretec1400

reporta1402

count?a1425

recite1448

touch?a1450

repeat1451

deliverc1454

explikec1454

renderc1460

recount1477

to show forth1498

relate1530

to set forth1530

rechec1540

reaccount1561

recitate1568

history1600

recant1603

to run througha1616

enarrate1750

narrate1754

the mind > language > statement > state or declare [verb (transitive)] > as by reading aloud

readOE

OE Homily (Hatton 114) in J. Bazire & J. E. Cross Eleven Old Eng. Rogationtide Homilies (1989) 122 Gyf þonne þa englas geseoð þæt seo sawl bið heora geferscypes wyrðe, hi þonne onginnað secgan and rædan swyðe freondlice eall þa god þe heo æfre fram frymðe hyre lifes oð hire daga ende gefremede, and heo hit eall on heora bocum awriten habbað.

c1390 Castle of Love (Vernon) (1967) 1361 (MED) No tonge ne mihte reden..his mihtful deden.

c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. iii. 14 (MED) Hure robe was ryccher þan ich rede couthe.

a1500 (?a1475) Guy of Warwick (Cambr. Ff.2.38) 313 (MED) That schall to me grete worschyp be Yf any man may synge or rede That y was for þe done to dede.

c1540 (?a1400) Destr. Troy 12579 Þan Palomydon..put was to dethe With the birre of his bow, as I aboue rede.

1591 E. Spenser Prosopopoia in Complaints 604 But read, faire Sir, of grace, from whence come yee.

1840 R. H. Barham Witches' Frolic in Ingoldsby Legends 1st Ser. 161 I'll rede ye a lay of Grammarye.

b. transitive. To speak of or mention; to describe; to name or call. Obsolete (archaic in later use).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > speech > speak, say, or utter [verb (transitive)] > mention or speak of

to speak of ——c825

sayOE

besayc1200

talk ofc1230

to make mention ofc1300

readc1300

yminnea1325

nevenc1330

to make mindc1350

toucha1375

famea1400

minta1400

clepec1400

rehearsec1405

recitec1436

reckonc1480

mentionatec1525

mention1530

to speak upon ——1535

name1542

repeatc1550

voice1597

commemorate1599

to speak on ——1600

notice1611

quote1612

to make vent ofa1616

memorate1623

mensh1928

the mind > language > speech > narration > description or act of describing > describe [verb (transitive)]

sayOE

devisec1300

readc1300

to make (a) showing ofc1330

counterfeitc1369

expressc1386

scrievec1390

descrya1400

scrya1400

drawa1413

representc1425

describec1450

report1460

qualify?1465

exhibit1534

perscribe1538

to set out1545

deline1566

delineate1566

decipher1567

denotate1599

lineate16..

denote1612

givea1616

inform?1615

to shape out1633

speaka1637

display1726

to hit off1737

the mind > language > naming > give a name to [verb (transitive)] > call or give as name to > designate or style as

sayOE

calla1250

deemc1400

nevenc1425

qualify?1465

designa1500

expound1530

style1570

intenda1599

dub1607

instyle1607

phrase1607

enstyle1616

speaka1625

cognominate1632

determine1653

clapa1657

designate1669

intimate1799

nominate1799

bedub1884

tab1924

c1300 (?c1225) King Horn (Laud) (1901) 1395 (MED) Þe Joie þat he made Myȝte no man rede.

a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 10800 Ȝe men..þat haue herd me rede þys sacrament, how ouer alle þyng hyt haþ powere.

?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) i. l. 14465 [I]n þat tyme þat I now rede, þe date was, [etc.].

c1450 (?a1400) T. Chestre Sir Launfal (1930) 299 (MED) May no man rede here atyre.

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. vii. sig. G4^v Whose kingdomes seat Cleopolis is red.

a1625 J. Fletcher Valentinian iii. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Bbbbbbb2/1 Good men [will] raze thee For ever being read again but vicious.

1840 R. H. Barham Lay St. Nicholas in Ingoldsby Legends 1st Ser. 267 Now rede me aright the most wonderful sight, Thou Palmer grey, that thine eyes have seen.

c. intransitive. To speak, tell, or give an account of. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > speech > speak [verb (intransitive)] > speak of or mention

sayOE

showa1200

monec1225

roundc1275

specifya1300

sermon1303

nevenc1330

readc1330

reckonc1390

to make meaninga1400

rehearsec1405

express1430

remember1531

mention1559

c1330 (?c1300) Speculum Guy (Auch.) (1898) 167 (MED) Ac nu i wole speke and rede Of hem, þat i erere seide þat þurw here pride and here wil Þeih fallen ofte in gret peril.

a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 6303 (MED) Of þre executurs y shal ȝou rede how þey halpe ones a soule yn nede.

c1430 (c1380) G. Chaucer Parl. Fowls 516 Bet is that a wyghtes tonge reste Than entermeten hym of such doinge, Of which he neyther rede can ne synge.

1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) x. 276 I think of hym to reid And till schaw part of his gud deid.

a1530 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Royal) ii. (heading) Or I forthire nowe procede, Off the Genealogi will I rede.

1570 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Lekprevik) vi. 72 Heirof as now, I will na mair proceid..Of vther thing my purpois is to reid.

V. With a person as object.

20. transitive. To bring (a person) into a certain state (esp. sleep) by reading. Frequently reflexive.

ΚΠ

1596 J. Harington Apol. sig. Piij You know the booke well enough, I read you a sleep in it once or twise as we went from Greenewitch to Westminster.

1616 B. Jonson Epicœne iv. iv, in Wks. I. 574 Euery night they read themselues asleepe on those bookes.

1676 W. Wycherley Plain-dealer iii. i We shall have you read yourself into a Humour of rambling and fighting.

1744 Antiquary ii. in Select Coll. Old Plays VII. 148 I..Read you asleep i' th' afternoon with pamphlets.

1823 I. D'Israeli Curiosities of Lit. 2nd Ser. III. 336 Good men, who read themselves in and out of their vacillating creed.

1861 C. Dickens Great Expectations I. iv. 48 If you could only give him his head, he would read the clergyman to fits.

1873 W. Black Princess of Thule xxi. 345 Give me that book, that I may read myself into a nap.

1925 W. J. Bryan Memoirs i. xii. 194 Often after she had..read him to sleep, she would lead me to the room that I might admire our young hopeful.

1991 Omni Mar. 108/1 Compulsive literacy disorder.., a disease that compels people to read themselves to death.

2001 Church Times 15 June 15/2 I read myself to sleep.., wearing one of those daffy wonderful head-torches.

21. transitive. slang (originally and chiefly U.S.). To upbraid, berate, or reprimand. Chiefly with off.

ΚΠ

1911 Weekly Courier (Connellsville, Pa.) 26 Jan. 6/2 Shields..read them off systematically,..telling the attorneys the kind of men he thinks they are.

1949 Jrnl. Amer. Folklore 62 175 He rushed over to the swabbie and started reading him off.

1973 ‘D. Ellington’ Music my Mistress 291 Oh, man, she read him, as I've never heard anyone read Tom Whaley before or since.

1999 E. D. Hoagland Sea Hawks i. 8 An ensign instructing officer..came over and read me off in front of the company. He was savage in his remarks.

VI. With the text or thing that is scanned or read as subject.

22.

a. intransitive. To be readable; to be pleasing to read; to make clear sense when read. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > reading > [verb (intransitive)] > bear reading

1668 T. Shadwell Sullen Lovers iii. 34 'Tis a Play that shall Read and Act with any Play that ever was born.

1727 D. Defoe Hist. Apparitions (1840) 340 The book will read without it.

1887 A. Birrell Obiter Dicta 2nd Ser. viii. 260 When the dish is served, we only ask, Is it good?..when the book comes out, Does it read?

1931 Notes & Queries 17 Oct. 287/2 The translation is oddly unequal. It is often conspicuously clear and vigorous; sometimes it is halting and dull; occasionally, it does not ‘read’.

b. intransitive. To have a specified character or quality when read; to produce a certain impression on readers; to give rise to a particular interpretation.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > reading > [verb (intransitive)] > produce specific impression when read

1731 Gentleman's Mag. 1 21/2 Thy comedies excell..And read politely well.

1789 T. Twining tr. Aristotle Treat. Poetry 168 Whose productions..read better than they act.

1805 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. 3 231 This pamphlet is so pious as to read more like a sermon than a political address.

1828 Examiner 84/2 Nothing can read more free and easy than his present translation.

1863 J. Kavanagh Eng. Women of Lett. I. 187 There are lives that read like one long sorrow.

1928 P. Monroe China v. 123 The story of the East India Company in India does not read very differently from the account of the conquest of the American ‘savages’.

1956 H. L. Mencken Minority Rep. 18 All fiction save the occasional work of genius reads much alike, and is couched in the same time-worn phrases.

1996 W. A. Cohen Sex Scandal ii. 69 The novel reads as conventional romance.

2006 Time Out N.Y. 7 Sept. 159/1 Danielewski's newest offering reads like a love story that slipped into a particle accelerator.

c. intransitive. Of a language, piece of text, etc.: to admit of or require reading in a particular direction or sequence; to be understood by reading in a particular order.

ΚΠ

1801 Monthly Mag. Feb. 49/1 The copy is composed as usual, only it is not inverted,..and reads from left to right; as when printed.

1851 Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. 2 59 The Japanese language is written in columns like the Chinese, Manchu and Corean, and reads from right to left.

1880 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 1878–80 18 509 The numbers read from left to right on the first and third lines and from right to left on the second and fourth.

1947 E. Blom Everyman's Dict. Music 430/1 Palindrome, a word or poem reading the same backwards as forwards.

1993 Burlington Mag. Sept. 620/2 Banker's reconstruction follows the order listed in the scriptia, and reads vertically from top to bottom.

d. intransitive. To be able to be interpreted (in a particular way).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > interpretation > interpret [verb (intransitive)] > admit of

1866 J. Martineau Ess. Philos. & Theol. 1st Ser. 28 This rule reads both ways.

1900 M. Hewlett Life & Death Richard Yea-and-Nay ii. vii. 299 It might seem that he had or had not [sc. seen a mother before]: his action reads either way.

2007 R. Paulson Sin & Evil 116 The imagery reads both ways.

23. Of a measuring instrument or its scale.

a. intransitive. To indicate a measurement; to be calibrated so as to give readings of a specified kind.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > measurement > measuring instrument > [verb (intransitive)] > have graduated scale of specific kind

1846 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 9 330 The vertical or dip circle is eight inches in diameter, divided..to read to fifteen minutes of arc.

1862 Internat. Exhib.: Illustr. Catal. Industr. Dept. II. xiii. §2941 Standard barometer on Fortin's principle, reading from an ivory zero point in the cistern.

1928 Times 24 Apr. 10/5 These [non-standard tires] made the speedometer read about 5 per cent. fast.

1935 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 47 155 The dial has 100 scale divisions and thus reads directly in units of 1 σ.

1986 F. Guillou & C. Gray in A. Limon et al. Home Owner Man. (ed. 2) v. vii. 803 The ‘Megger’ has a scale that reads in thousands of ohms.

2002 J. White Care & Repair of Shop Machines i. 8 The dial indicator..reads in 0.001-in. increments.

b. transitive. To register or indicate (a measurement); to be calibrated or set according to (a particular scale or unit of measurement).

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > measurement > measuring instrument > measure by or as an instrument [verb (transitive)] > register or indicate a certain measurement

mark1820

give1890

1862 Times 10 Sept. 10/3 The temperature of the air fell to 26½ deg., and the wet-bulb thermometer read the same.

1886 L. Cumming Electr. treated Experimentally (1887) 44 A rider reading thousands of an ounce on the beam of a grocer's balance.

1930 Proc. IRE 18 832 The barometric altimeter is adjusted to read altitude above the [landing] field.

1958 Science 7 Nov. 1160/3 Digital instrument reads d-c volts in four ranges from 0.001 to 999 v.

1986 F. Guillou & C. Gray in A. Limon et al. Home Owner Man. (ed. 2) v. vii. 801 The universal test meter is a device whereby a single scale can read volts, amperes and ohms.

1997 C. Barker in D. E. Winter Revelations 43 Slater looked. The barometer read 28.55.

24. transitive. Of a sign, notice, letter, etc.: to bear (a specified inscription). Usually with written text as object.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > meaning of linguistic unit > convey meaning [verb (intransitive)]

soundc1374

hight1579

breathe1697

1858 Indiana School Jrnl. 3 282 The people laughed at the juxtaposition of the names..and the lawyers therefore resolved to have the sign read Isaac Catchem and Uriah Chetum.

1891 F. H. Williams Atman v. 270 The letter reads as follows.

1904 G. Parker Ladder of Swords xvi. 229 A footman..came to Angèle, bearing a note which read: ‘Your friend is very ill, and asks for you.’

1946 Bible (Rev. Standard) Mark xv. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, ‘The King of the Jews.’

1978 P. D. Wellstone How Rural Poor got Power iii. 78 The Northfield News headline read: ‘Group Questions Area Board’.

2002 Observer 27 Oct. i. 20/7 There is no point driving around it looking for a sign reading ‘City Centre’, because there isn't one.

Phrases

†P1. to read and sing: to read prayers or scripture and sing hymns in a church service. Obsolete.Occasionally with order reversed, as to sing and read.

ΚΠ

OE tr. Chrodegang of Metz Regula Canonicorum (Corpus Cambr. 191) xlix. 269 (heading) Be þam þe on cyrcan sceolon rædan and singan.

a1300 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 114 (MED) Hit bilimpeð forte speke, to reden, & to singe Of him.

c1300 St. Cuthbert (Laud) 95 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 362 (MED) With oþure he ȝeode to matynes, ȝeorne he song and radde.

a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 8017 Y haue ȝow prestes þre Þat for me mow rede ande synge.

a1450 Pater Noster Richard Ermyte (Westm. Sch. 3) (1967) 3 (MED) Þoo wymmen þat beþ religious..þei kun rede & synge & here preier make.

a1500 Rule Minoresses in W. W. Seton Two 15th Cent. Franciscan Rules (1914) 85 (MED) Þe sustres whoche canne rede & singe schal do þe office reuerentli.

a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 182 All clergy, do to him inclyne..Ensence his altar, reid and sing In haly kirk.

P2. to read a lesson or lecture: to teach a lesson or give a lecture to a class, congregation, etc., for the purpose of instruction; (figurative) to administer a reprimand or check.In literal sense not always implying the actual reading aloud of a written text, but usually indicating that the lesson or lecture follows a prepared, received, or doctrinal model.

ΚΠ

OE Confessionale Pseudo-Egberti (Junius) 189 Swa hwylc swa wile æt mæssetidum lectiones rædun oððe responsoria singan, [etc.].]

?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 54 Al þe lecun þe god hefde ired [c1230 Corpus Cambr. ired, a1235 Nero ilered] hire.

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 56 (MED) Zuyche byeþ þe miracles þet þe dyeuel makeþ, And huet lessouns þer [sc. in the tavern] he ret; alle uelþe he tekþ þer.

c1475 Gregory's Chron. in J. Gairdner Hist. Coll. Citizen London (1876) 230 Docter Ive..radde many fulle nobylle lessonnys to preve that Cryste was lorde of alle.

1575 G. Gascoigne Glasse of Gouernem. i. v. sig. Cii^v If my iudgement do not fayle me, I may chaunce to read some of them another lecture.

1608 W. Shakespeare Richard II iv. i. 222 Would it not shame thee in so faire a troope, To read a lecture of them.

1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ iv. ix. 11 His Wife falling to read him a lowd lesson.

1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure II. 92 Mrs. Cole..proceeded to read me such admirable lessons on the œconomy of my person and my purse.

1817 J. Mill Hist. Brit. India II. iv. iv. 157 Dreadful was the fate..and important are the lessons which it reads.

1915 T. Dixon Foolish Virgin ii. 19 She read him a lecture on honesty that discouraged him.

1994 A. Smith Canada—An Amer. Nation? iv. 77 Some of Moffett's fellow Americans might have read him a lesson in what gave Canada its capacity to endure.

†P3. to read right: to have or take a correct view; to be right in one's ideas or expectations. Obsolete.Perhaps originally related to senses 1, 2 above.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > freedom from error, correctness > be right [verb (intransitive)]

to reckon righta1400

to read right?a1425

to get, have, or take the (or a) wrong (or right) sow by the ear1546

to get (also have) something right1565

to have the right scope of1570

?a1425 (a1400) Awntyrs Arthure (Lamb.) 525 (MED) I shal rewarde þe þi route, if I cone rede righte.

1508 W. Dunbar Goldyn Targe (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems (1998) I. 192 O reuerend Chaucere,..quho redis rycht, Thou beris of makaris the tryumph riall.

1636 A. Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae (new ed.) 1191 Gif yee read right, it was not I.

†P4. to read on one side of the leaf: to consider or appreciate only one side of the question. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 204 Syndry folk redis apon a syde of the lef, and nocht on the tothir.

P5. to read and (or or) write: to be generally literate; to have the basic skills of literacy. Usually const. with to be able, to learn, to teach, etc.Occasionally with order reversed, as to write and read.

ΚΠ

1490 W. Caxton tr. Eneydos xxii. 84 Cadynus inventour of the first lettres lerned the folke to rede and to write.

1567 Compend. Bk. Godly Songs (1897) 196 Preistis, reid and wryte, And ȝour fals Cannowne law lat be.

1627 Rep. Parishes Scotl. (1835) 22 Theire is ane greit necessatie of ane skule for not ane of the paroche can reid nor wryt.

1738 A. Pope One Thousand Seven Hundred & Thirty Eight Dialogue II 12 Chartres scarce could write or read.

1796 H. Hunter tr. J.-H. B. de Saint-Pierre Stud. Nature (1799) III. 154 I applied myself night and day to the means of learning how to read and write.

1856 J. Aiton Clerical Econ. (ed. 2) 317 An English nursery governess,..to learn them to read and write.

1940 L. MacNeice Last Ditch 25 He was not able to read or write, He did odd jobs..Cutting the hedge or hoeing the drive.

1993 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 4 Nov. 30/1 During the summer, the young boy and his sister helped the peasants compose letters, tried to teach them to read and write.

P6. to read (someone or something) like a book: see to read (also know) like a book at book n. Phrases 2m.

P7.

a. to read lips: to lip-read; to be able to lip-read (cf. lip-read vb. at lip n. Compounds 2). Also (esp. in early use) intransitive, in to read from (also on, upon) the lips.

ΚΠ

1834 N. Amer. Rev. Apr. 341 Is it desirable, that the deaf and dumb pupil should be taught to speak, and to read upon the lips?

1844 H. Mann 7th Ann. Rep. Secretary Board of Educ. in Mass. 32 A girl whose facility in reading from the lips was so remarkable, that she could read at a great distance.

1884 in J. C. Gordon Educ. of Deaf (1892) p. xxxiv Most of them can read lips readily.

1950 E. H. Nitchie New Lessons in Lip Reading ii. 35 Even an expert lip reader cannot possibly read lips that do not move.

2001 W. C. Stokoe Lang. in Hand iv. 53 They insisted that clear speech..could be read on the lips with facility.

2003 Newsweek 24 Feb. 16/1 We talked to..other parents of deaf children to figure out whether we should raise Julia as an oralist—someone who uses hearing aids and reads lips—or a signer.

b. to read (a person's) lips: to understand (a person who is speaking) by lip-reading.

ΚΠ

1887 Proc. 11th Convent. Amer. Instructors of Deaf 236 I will go around the class..never looking at the children, because I might read their lips.

1916 E. W. Sargent Technique of Photoplay (ed. 3) lv. 271 The real murderers come to watch the trial and by reading their lips the secretary is enabled to free her sweetheart.

2001 Kenyon Rev. Winter 164 Fans with opera glasses could actually read his lips: ‘Odette! Don't go!’

c. colloquial (originally North American). In imperative. read my lips: ‘pay attention’, ‘listen carefully’, ‘take me at my word’ (used for emphasis or to express earnestness of intent).In later use often associated with George H. W. Bush, U.S. President (1989–93), who used the phrase in his speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention: see quot. 1988.

ΚΠ

1957 J. Greene (title of song) Read my lips.

1982 Mountain Democrat-Times (Placerville, Calif.) 27 Dec. a5/2 Hey, parents! read my lips!.. Have I got a product for you.

1988 N.Y. Times Mag. 4 Sept. 22 ‘Congress will push me to raise taxes,’ George Bush told the whooping Republican delegates.., ‘and I'll say no.., “Read my lips: no new taxes”.’

1993 M. Atwood Robber Bride lii. 423 Give him up. Forget about him... Read my lips, he wasn't worth it.

2004 Guardian (Nexis) 24 Mar. (Features) 6 No way, read my lips, there is no way I'm going to sign this.

P8. to read between the lines: see line n.² 23a.

P9. to take (something) as read: to treat (a statement, a subject, etc.) as if it has been agreed, without having a discussion about it; to take for granted. Occasionally with other introductory verbs.

ΚΠ

1811 Times 22 May 3/2 Petitions..with signatures to the amount of more than ten thousand names, all of which were taken as read, and ordered to lie on the table.

1863 Bankers' Mag. Apr. 263 Gentlemen, I presume that..we may regard the report of the directors to be taken as read.

1886 G. M. Hopkins Lett. to R. Bridges (1955) 244 Objections on your part, if any, are now too late and will be ‘taken as read’.

1928 D. L. Sayers Unpleasantness at Bellona Club iii. 22 Don't let's harrow our feelings. Take it as read.

1938 M. Allingham Fashion in Shrouds xxi. 397 I think we can almost take that as read, don't you?

1973 H. Miller Open City xvii. 187 You can regard your complaint of boorishness..as read.

1996 Independent 10 May ii. 4/3 I think because I was a man people kind of took it as read that I wasn't planning to stay a secretary for long.

P10. transitive (in imperative). colloquial (originally U.S. Gambling). read 'em and weep and variants: used to express smugness or satisfaction at triumph over one's opponents when displaying a winning hand of cards or roll of the dice. Frequently in extended use.

ΚΠ

1916 Washington Post 19 Nov. 5/1 The men bending over the tables are heard to utter these..words:..‘Baby needs a new pair of shoes!’..‘Read 'em and weep!’

1941 Los Angeles Times 12 June ii. 4/5 ‘Traffic takes lives of six’. Read 'em and weep, Hitler. If..Californians can do that with pleasure cars think what they could do with tanks.

1978 A. Baraka Motion of Hist. & Other Plays 35 Read em and weep, fellas..full house..jacks over twos. Hahahaha.

2000 Time 18 Sept. 44/2 This is the year in which dotcoms turned into dotbombs. Read your high-tech stock portfolio and weep.

2003 Evening Times (Glasgow) (Nexis) 16 Aug. 30 As the unlucky gambler is told when he sits beside the green baize poker table: ‘Read them and weep.’

P11. slang. to read one's shirt: to examine one's clothing for vermin.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > pest control > remove vermin [verb (intransitive)] > exterminate insects > remove lice > search for lice

to read one's shirt1918

1918 National Geographic Mag. June 499 They..speak of ‘reading their shirts’.

1931 ‘D. Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route xiii. 144 It is said, for instance, that the hobo spends a great deal of his time reading his shirt, seeking certain animals known as ‘seam squirrels’.

1951 J. P. Marquand Melville Goodwin, USA xxv. 388 There's something itching and I'd better read my shirt a while.

1978 J. L. McWilliams & R. J. Steel Suicide Battalion iii. 31 Soon everyone had the telltale itch, and all ranks began ‘reading their shirts’.

P12. Australian and New Zealand colloquial. you wouldn't read about it: it is scarcely credible (used as an exclamation of disbelief or disgust).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > disbelief, incredulity > expressing disbelief [phrase]

do you mean to say (also to tell me)1763

you don't mean to say (also to tell me)1763

tell that to the marines1806

in a horn1847

you are (or have got to be) joking1907

tie that bull outside or to another ashcan1921

you could have fooled me1926

you wouldn't read about it1950

pull the other one (it's got bells on)1966

the mind > emotion > hatred > dislike > disgust > exclamation of disgust [interjection]

foȝa1250

fie1297

faugh1542

ough1565

pah1592

pish1592

phah1593

paw1640

poh1650

sis1862

gick1905

ptui1930

stone (or stiffen) the crows1930

you wouldn't read about it1950

yeuch1964

barf1966

yuck1966

ick1967

yech1969

1950 J. Cleary Just let me Be xiv. 135 Four certs I had, and the bludgers were so far back the ambulance nearly had to bring 'em home. You wouldn't read about it.

1973 H. Williams My Love had Black Speed Stripe x. 69 You wouldn't read about it. A bloke his missus reckons was a doctor of philosophy, whatever that was, and just about the biggest dill you could meet.

2003 P. Scott Gay Resort Murder Shock 42 We had one girl—you wouldn't read about it—she didn't like the cleaners' uniform! Sorry, but she only wears purple!

P13. to read the room: to be alert and responsive to the mood or behaviour of the audience one is addressing; (more generally) to remain attentive and astute in one's interactions with others.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > evaluation, estimation, appraisal > appraise, estimate [verb (transitive)] > take the measure of

measure?a1425

gauge1583

to sum up1631

measure1684

to touch off1766

to take (also get) the measure of1790

to get (also take, etc.) a person's number1853

reckon1853

to put up1864

size1884

to weigh up1894

to read the room1975

1975 Oakland (Calif.) Post 23 Mar. 4 In another question I asked, has any audience or person felt insulted by your comments, he said no because you read the room when you first bring the group together by asking where they are from this has a way of relaxing everybody and removes the sensitivity.

1995 N.Y. Times 23 Apr. (Money & Business section) 11/3 You can detect chandelier [sc. fake] bids by watching closely... The more auctions you attend, the better you will be at reading the room.

2019 L. Post Higher Etiquette iv. 61 Even once you have established household norms, it never hurts to double-check. A simple ‘Are you cool with this?’ or ‘Want me to open a window?’ will suffice... Read the room—even when it's just the two of you.

Phrasal verbs

With adverbs in specialized senses. to read down

Law (originally Australian).

transitive. Law (originally Australian). Of a judicial authority: to interpret (a law, contract, etc.) narrowly so as to ensure it is constitutional or consistent with superior laws.

ΚΠ

1915 Commonw. Law Rep.: High Court Austral. 20 96 An Act of New South Wales unlimited in literal terms was read down to territorial limits.

1934 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 24 Nov. 19/5 If the section was read down as they held it should be, or was cut down.., then the foreign company assessed under it was in no worse position.

1980 Times of India 2 Aug. 9/5 The court rejected the plea of the attorney general for reading down article 31 C so as to conform with the ratio.

1990 Univ. Toronto Law Jrnl. 40 4 The court is reluctant to save such legislation [sc. that appears to violate the Charter] by reading it down or otherwise rewriting it.

2017 T. T. Arvind Contract Law xiii. 378 Courts should not resort to strained constructions for the sake of reading down an exclusion clause.

to read in

a. transitive (reflexive). To admit oneself into office as incumbent of a benefice in the Church of England by reading publicly the Thirty-nine Articles and making the Declaration of Assent. Also intransitive. Now historical.

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > worship > sacrament > order > induction > induct [verb (intransitive)] > read 39 articles

to read in1800

1800 W. Holland Diary in Paupers & Pig Killers (1984) 28 I went over to Asholt with him to induct him a second time into the Living... Mr John Brice called before he went to Asholt to read in.

1821 E. H. MacLeod Tales of Ton 2nd Ser. III. 306 He..heard young Mr. Pycraft read himself in.

1857 A. Trollope Barchester Towers xxiii. (heading) Mr. Arabin reads himself in at St. Ewolds.

1904 9th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (rev. ed.) App. iii. I. 212 The Rev. Peter Hitchington..had to read himself in and could not attend the musters.

1999 N. Yates Anglican Ritualism in Victorian Brit. v. 262 When his duly appointed successor..‘read himself in’ on 11 March it was ‘amidst the groans and hisses of a large and excited mob’.

b. transitive. To admit, esp. into one of the armed services, by reading a formal notice of induction; to conscript. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > military organization > enlistment or recruitment > enlist (soldiers) [verb (transitive)]

wagec1330

musterc1425

to take upc1425

prest1481

to call up1523

conscribe1548

enrol1576

matriculate1577

press1600

in list1604

list1643

recruita1661

enlist1699

crimp1789

to muster into service1834

book1843

induct1934

to read in1938

1905 J. Masefield Sea Life Nelson's Time iii. 51 Having repaired on board, and hoisted his pendant, the captain read his commission, or ‘read himself in’, before the caretakers and old seamen aboard the ship.

1915 F. Hopwood Let. 20 May in M. Gilbert Winston S. Churchill (1972) III. Compan. ii. 920 It is plain that a First Sea Lord remains in office until the new Patent appointing his successor is passed the Seal & he is ‘read in’ at the Board.

1938 ‘C. S. Forester’ Ship of Line viii. 110 Excellent, Mr. Bush. Read 'em in.

2. transitive. To assume or infer (something omitted or elided) when reading; to introduce (an additional idea or element supposed to be present or implied). Also used intransitively. Cf. sense 11d.

ΚΠ

1903 Westm. Gaz. 13 Nov. 7/2 The learned counsel argued that his lordship must read in a negative... In a contract for personal service you must have in it a negative, express or implied.

1919 ‘C. Dane’ Legend 96 She said to me once that the critics had ‘read in’ things that she had never dreamed of.

1979 E. H. Gombrich Sense of Order iv. 99 Finding it difficult, if not impossible, to tell at any point where..we are reading and where we are ‘reading in’.

1997 J. Elkins Our Beautiful, Dry & Distant Texts i. 19 A philosophic critique that is unwilling simply to ‘read in’ a subtext where none is explicitly present.

3. transitive. Computing. To transfer (data) into a computer or other electronic storage device. Cf. sense 11e, read-in n.¹

ΘΚΠ

society > computing and information technology > data > database > use data [verb (transitive)] > store

store1909

write1946

save1961

to back up1967

to read in1970

archive1979

1948 C. Chu in Theory & Techniques Design Electronic Digital Computers III. xxvii. 1 This is especially true if the machine is to solve problems in which large quantities of input and output data have to be read in and written out.

1957 D. D. McCracken Digital Computer Programming xii. 157 The reel of tape may then be..placed on a tape unit which is connected to the computer (‘on-line’), and read in at high speeds.

1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing xiv. 222 When all the records have been read-in, all that is needed then is to print the contents of the 50 cells.

1991 What's New in Design Sept. 80/3 Data can be read in from other programs or entered directly.

4. intransitive. To stand in for an actor at a rehearsal, reading his or her part.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > acting > act [verb (transitive)] > take part of at rehearsal

to read in1968

1968 J. Bingham I love, I Kill iii. 32 Shirley, you read in for Sarah... You'll be understudying her anyway.

1981 J. Hiley Theatre at Work xiv. 216 Mackintosh continued to read in for him while the actor lurked at the back of the theatre looking thoroughly miserable.

2001 T. West Moment towards End of Play (2002) xi. 99 The actor who was supposed to play Johnson was not there... I was asked to read in for him.

5. transitive. To inform, to bring (a person) up to date (on something). Also reflexive.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > information > action of informing > give (information) [verb (transitive)] > inform (a person) > update

update1952

to read in1977

1977 F. Branston Up & Coming Man xiv. 152 What could be more natural than for a keen new councillor to read himself in on past decisions?

1987 M. McConnell Challenger ix. 130 He was not yet fully 'read in' on the complexities of the shuttle program.

2004 Re: Bush's Bipartisan Comm. in rec.sport.football.college (Usenet newsgroup) 12 Feb. He may well be an expert on corporate structuring. That does not tell us that he was read in on the planning of military operations.

to read off

1. transitive and †intransitive. To take a reading of (a measurement, value, etc.) from an instrument; to derive (a result, conclusion, etc.) directly from tabulated data, a graph, etc. Also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > measurement > measuring instrument > measure by or as an instrument [verb (transitive)] > measure by means of instruments > note a reading from an instrument

to read off1755

1755 Philos. Trans. 1754 (Royal Soc.) 48 602 Let the bar be apply'd to the instrument, and the degrees of the micrometer and the thermometer read off, and set down.

1785 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 75 475 I have myself repeatedly adjusted the wires eight or ten times running, allowing another person to read off and unadjust each time.

1807 T. Young Course Lect. Nat. Philos. I. x. 102 By sliding a triangle along a graduated ruler, we read off the divisions on an amplified scale with great accuracy.

1812 R. Woodhouse Elem. Treat. Astron. vi. 30 If in the second position we should read off by the microscope.

1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 69 Before the height of the mercury is read off.

1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VII. 435 Passing the tip of the finger over the outlines of the letters and so reading off the result.

1956 E. H. Hutten Lang. Mod. Physics vi. 262 The empiricist prejudice..is, indeed, very strong, but it is obviously not true that we simply read off our hypotheses from data.

1972 R. Galopin & N. F. M. Henry Microsc. Study Opaque Minerals vii. 165/2 The intersection..then gave a point on the Wright Chart from which the values of n and κ were read off.

2001 M. Rowlands Nature of Consciousness ii. 39 The question of whether natural facts entail moral ones, or whether moral facts can be 'read off' from natural ones, is simply irrelevant.

2. transitive. To recite or record, (items in a list, etc.) in sequence.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > speech > speech-making > recitation > recite [verb (transitive)] > read aloud

readOE

to read overc1380

to read out1534

prone1683

to read upa1691

to read off1808

to call off1846

1808 C. Stower Printer's Gram. 395 That part of the copy..should be carefully transcribed or read off.

1852 J. Fiske Let. 19 Feb. (1940) 1 At school today Mr. Chase read off the prizes.

1871 J. Mackenzie Ten Years North of Orange River 338 The young men were amazed when Mr. Sykes read off to them the Zulu form of certain words.

1933 E. A. Powell Slanting Lines of Steel x. 156 As the Minister of War read off the names from a list the decorés stepped forward, one by one.

1981 ‘E. McBain’ Heat iii. 51 The sportscaster read off the baseball scores.

2006 Time Out N.Y. 19 Jan. 17/1 To hear Rachel Boynton read off the titles of her ginormous DVD collection..is to hear the zeal of a true documentary enthusiast.

† to read on

Obsolete. rare.

transitive. To mark or impress (a design, motif, etc.) on a fabric.

ΚΠ

1831 G. R. Porter Treat. Silk Manuf. 258 The workman proceeds to read on the design.

to read out

1. transitive. To read aloud. Also intransitive.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > speech > speech-making > recitation > recite [verb (transitive)] > read aloud

readOE

to read overc1380

to read out1534

prone1683

to read upa1691

to read off1808

to call off1846

1534 tr. Erasmus Dyaloge Funus sig. D.i He commaunded one to rede out a lowde the hole psalme.

1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xxiv. xxv. 526 Before it was all red out and published, it passed cleare.

1682 J. Bunyan Holy War 170 He read out with a loud voice the pardon.

1794 R. Southey Wat Tyler iii. i Tom Miller. Read it out—read it out. Hob. Ay, ay, let's hear the Charter.

1844 Lady G. C. Fullerton Ellen Middleton vi Sir Edmund and Henry alternately read out loud to us.

1890 H. Caine Bondman i. v The clerk and sexton read out the askings for the marriage.

1925 V. Woolf Mrs. Dalloway 167 He read out the draft of a letter which Lady Bruton felt certain was a masterpiece.

2002 J. McGahern That they may face Rising Sun (2003) 101 Johnny used to get me to read out her lines for him when he was practising his part.

†2. transitive. To peruse from beginning to end; to reach the end of (a book, etc.). Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > reading > [verb (transitive)] > from beginning to end

over-readOE

to read overc1380

pursuec1384

to see over ——1490

peruse1524

peruse1532

to read through1533

perlegate1598

to read out1646

society > communication > reading > [verb (transitive)] > read to the end of

outread1578

to read out1646

finish1884

1646 T. Gataker Mistake Removed 21 Had this Autor but writ or red out the text he cites, he had found somewhat more then faith in it.

1662 H. Newcome Diary 6 Sept. (1849) 120 I read out w^t remained to be read in Rushworth.

1715 J. Swift Let. to Pope 28 June in Lett. Dr. Swift (1741) 4 I borrowed your Homer from the Bishop..and read it out in two evenings.

1747 S. Fielding Familiar Lett. David Simple II. 151 The pretence of being eager to read out some new Book which I have borrowed.

3. transitive. To expel (a person); to throw (a person) out of a body, party, church, etc., properly by reading a notice of expulsion. Chiefly in passive; also used reflexively. Cf. senses 1b.Used spec. in the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), esp. in to read out of meeting.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming out > letting or sending out > let or send out [verb (transitive)] > expel > specific people from a place, position, or possession > by reading notice of expulsion

to read out1825

society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > exclusion from society > exclude from society [verb (transitive)] > exclude from membership

discommonc1450

discommunec1571

unmember1658

to read out1865

1825 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 190/2 The society [of Friends] ‘read him out’ for..knocking a man..head over heels.

1841 Congress. Globe 30 June 133/2 Instead of their reading him out of church, if they did not mind he would read them out of church.

1865 R. Hunt Pop. Romances W. Eng. 1st Ser. 96 He left the ‘people’ that he mightn't be read out.

1890 Harper's Mag. Feb. 349/2 They said I wasn't no Christian; and so they got together and read me out o' the church.

1928 L. Stockett Baltimore x. 172 During the Revolution a young Friend was read out of Meeting because he looked at the muster.

1976 Time 27 Dec. 14/2 Arafat also warned that any Palestinian group that rejected the idea..must read itself out of the P.L.O.

1993 H. N. Thomas Spirits in Dark xiv. 170 A lot of people got read out of the churches fo' joinin' the Spirituals.

4. transitive. Computing. To extract or display (data) from a computer or other electronic storage device; to transfer from internal storage. Cf. sense 11e, read-out n. 1.

ΘΚΠ

society > computing and information technology > data > database > use data [verb (transitive)] > store > copy or transfer

to read out1946

copy1953

dump1956

list1958

recall1966

to roll out1969

import1977

upload1977

export1982

1946 Ann. Computation Lab. Harvard Univ. 1 159 The number of columns shifted is recorded in a counter and a predetermined number of significant digits and a power of ten are read out.

1959 E. M. McCormick Digital Computer Primer ii. 7 When the problem is completely solved..the calculation is stopped, and the output, or answer, is read out.

1968 Times 10 Dec. 6/8 On each orbit the storage system reads out the information to a ground station.

1993 Sound & Vision Apr. 20/3 A 12-character dot-matrix display reads out the album title, artist name, track titles, timings and deck functions.

2005 Video Syst. Nov. 18/1 A pair of analog values can be read out for each clock pulse.

to read over

1. transitive. To go over or through (a text, written list, etc.), reading aloud.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > reading > [verb (transitive)] > from beginning to end

over-readOE

to read overc1380

pursuec1384

to see over ——1490

peruse1524

peruse1532

to read through1533

perlegate1598

to read out1646

the mind > language > speech > speech-making > recitation > recite [verb (transitive)] > read aloud

readOE

to read overc1380

to read out1534

prone1683

to read upa1691

to read off1808

to call off1846

c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 5789 Þe bysschop..þat had..ouer y-rad Alle ys orysouns.

a1438 Bk. Margery Kempe (1940) i. 5 (MED) He red it ouyr be-forn þis creatur, euery word.

1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. iii. 191 Iaque. I beseech your Grace let this Letter be read... King. Berowne reade it ouer.

1626 N. Breton Fantasticks sig. F2^v The first course is served in,..the dishes haue been red ouer.

1722 D. Defoe Moll Flanders 415 Then he pull'd out his Grandmother's Will, and read it over to me.

1847 A. Brontë Agnes Grey xi. 176 Having opened his prayer-book, and hastily read over a part of the service for the sick.

1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) IV. 160 Socrates requested that the first thesis..might be read over again.

1915 W. Cather Song of Lark vi. iii. 405 The doctor took out Thea's letter to him, and read it over to Mrs. Kronborg.

2004 B. Blech Eyewitness Jewish Hist. ii. vi. 65 Demetrius collected together the Jewish population in the place where the translation had been made, and read it over to all.

2. transitive. To go over or look back over (a letter, book, etc.); to peruse in full. Also figurative and in extended use.

ΚΠ

a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (1987) ii. 1085 He..radde it over, and gan the lettre folde.

1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. cxxxiij The Lantgraue readinge ouer their booke and their letters, noted what he thought blame worthy.

1594 J. Lyly Mother Bombie iii. iii. sig. E3 Fooles..Haue farre more knowledge, To reade a woman ouer, Than a neate prating louer.

a1639 T. Dekker et al. Witch of Edmonton (1658) iii. i. 32 Ah, 'las! I am not half perfect in it [sc. parting] yet, I must have it read over an hundred times.

1683 H. Prideaux in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eminent Literary Men (1843) (Camden) 185 Some booke or other..which he will read over, and then bring me again.

1758 T. Gray Let. 28 Oct. in Corr. (1971) II. 591 The first act of Caractacus is just arrived here, but I have not read it over.

1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xxv. 211 ‘There's no denying that the position is a hard one,’ Dobbin replied, after reading over the letter with a blank countenance.

1897 B. Stoker Dracula xvii. 226 In the meantime I shall read over some of these documents, and shall be better able to understand certain things.

1946 Nat. Hist. Mag. Mar. 144/2 Please read over the foregoing statement again, Madam Regent.

1993 R. Connolly Sunday Morning (BNC) 128 When she had finished, Emily read over what she had written.

2006 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 13 July 44/1 To read over..the entire published output of a poet whose work one is familiar with.

to read through

transitive. To peruse from beginning to end.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > reading > [verb (transitive)] > from beginning to end

over-readOE

to read overc1380

pursuec1384

to see over ——1490

peruse1524

peruse1532

to read through1533

perlegate1598

to read out1646

1533 T. More Apol. viii, in Wks. (1557) 862/2 Lette theym read my confutacion thorowe.

a1578 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1899) II. 60 Quhene they had red throw all his lang manassingis.

1638 R. Baker tr. J. L. G. de Balzac New Epist. II. 196 I may boldly say, I never yet read a whole Gazetta through.

1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding To Rdr. sig. a2 If any one take the like Offence at the Entrance of this Treatise, I shall desire him to read it through: and then I hope he will be convinced.

1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 133 Who now reads Bolingbroke? Who ever read him through?

1858 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. (1870) II. 113 He read it through, and replied that..for himself it was impossible [to take the oath].

1958 H. J. Eysenck Sense & Nonsense in Psychol. (rev. ed.) iii. 119 The unmitigated boredom produced by having to read through countless reports, all as similar as two peas.

2004 D. Lodge Author, Author i. 10 He read through the manuscript of another unfinished novel.

to read up

1. transitive. To read aloud. In later use Scottish. Sc. National Dictionary (at cited word) records this sense as still in use in Fife and Wigtownshire in 1967.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > speech > speech-making > recitation > recite [verb (transitive)] > read aloud

readOE

to read overc1380

to read out1534

prone1683

to read upa1691

to read off1808

to call off1846

a1691 G. Fox Jrnl. (1952) (modernized text) 247 ‘Thou hast a copy of it. Read it up,’ said I.

1784 R. Bage Barham Downs I. 224 Read it up, Timothy: I have not yet seen or heard a syllable of it.

1862 F. C. Husenbeth Life J. Milner 173 After dinner the Secretary of the Catholic Board read up certain Resolutions.

1925 C. P. Slater Marget Pow 17 Then, when we set foot on a foreign shore, and went birlin' away to Paris, the very first station I read up was Creil.

a. intransitive. To learn or become informed about something through a course of reading; to become knowledgeable or expert on a subject by reading. Cf. sense 8b.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > learning > study > [verb (intransitive)] > by reading

to read up1837

1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers l. 547 He crammed for it, to use a technical..term; he read up for the subject.

a1854 E. Grant Mem. Highland Lady (1988) II. xxiv. 170 The clever oddity who..read up in the mornings for conversational purposes, and at the dinners adroitly brought in the prepared subject.

1889 Harper's Mag. Jan. 209/2 Men should..be compelled to ‘read up’ on questions of the time.

1911 J. London Let. 17 Aug. (1966) 350 I should advise you..to read up on socialism.

1976 ‘M. Albrand’ Taste of Terror xviii. 103 Why don't you read up on it in the Britannica?

2004 Focus Feb. 106/2 I've read up on the Atkins diet and its claim that I should stop fretting about calories and fat.

b. transitive. To study (a subject, topic, etc.) intensively and systematically; to familiarize oneself with (the contents of a book, a written text, etc.). Cf. sense 8a.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > learning > study > [verb (transitive)] > study by reading

studya1425

revolve1485

to read up1842

1842 J. S. Mill Let. 22 Aug. in Wks. (1963) XIII. 542 I began to read up the subject.

1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain ii. xxvii. 657 I dread reading up all I must read presently.

1894 ‘R. Andom’ We Three & Troddles xvii. 149 Those miserable, hollow shams who read up the cricket news..in the evening papers.

1921 R. Macaulay Dangerous Ages v. 103 You should read it up beforehand, and try if you can understand it.

1962 A. Bello My Life viii. 88 I got hold of as many files as I could and read up all that I could lay my hands on.

1989 C. Boylan Concerning Virgins (1990) 99 Being an intelligent girl she read up some books first to make sure the slits would not go through.

Phrasal verbs

PV1. Computing. Used attributively with the sense ‘reading’.

ΘΚΠ

society > computing and information technology > hardware > [adjective] > properties of memory

non-volatile1950

volatile1950

1953 A. D. Booth & K. H. V. Booth Automatic Digital Calculators xii. 115 Mounted close to the drum are a series of read/record heads.

1958 Science 24 Oct. 1012/2 Reinitiation of the read operation.

1960 Proc. Inst. Electr. Engineers New Ser. 7 b. 56 (heading) A digital computer store with very short read time.

1964 F. L. Westwater Electronic Computers iv. 77 The resulting change of flux as the core switches will cause an electromotive force in the read wire.

1990 M. M. Mirabito & B. Morgenstern New Communications Technol. x. 200/2 During a read operation, a beam of light generated by the laser scans the CD.

2002 Sci. Amer. June 56/3 As the read head travels along a track of data on a computer disk, the small magnetic fields of the recorded 1's and 0's change the second layer's magnetization back and forth.

PV2.

read-around ratio n. Computing the number of times that a particular bit in an electrostatic store can be read without degrading bits stored nearby.

ΘΚΠ

society > computing and information technology > hardware > [noun] > memory > properties of memory

read-around ratio1953

packing density1956

volatility1969

1953 Math. Tables & Other Aids Computation 7 112 The inherent coupling between adjacent storage locations on the face of any cathode ray tube places a limit on the number of times any point on the raster may be consulted before its neighbors are regenerated. For the Institute machine this number, called the ‘read around’ ratio, is in the neighborhood of 30.

1969 P. B. Jordain Condensed Computer Encycl. 415 A high read-around ratio means greater reliability.

2004 R. K. Iyer in R. Jacquart Building Information Soc. 136 Special tests were used for the electrostatic Williams-tube memory to determine the Read-Around Ratio (RAR) for the day, i.e., the number of times a cell's neighbors could be bombarded between refreshes without altering the cell's contents.

read-me file n. Computing a file containing information about other stored files; spec. a text file with information concerning the installation, use, or other aspects of a particular item of software.

ΚΠ

1982 net.general 3 Jan. (Usenet newsgroup, accessed 10 Aug. 2006) I would appreciate it if each site would take a moment to install the remainder of this message in their netnews source directory as file readme (or appended to any existing readme file).

1990 Computer Buyer's Guide & Handbk. vii. 103/2 The readme file that came with the distribution disk mentioned that an index is being prepared.

1995 D. F. Hendry Dynamic Econometrics Pref. p. xxxiv Files are stored in the directory called pub\\dynects in both ASCII and PcGive format. Please read the ‘readme’ file in this directory before proceeding.

1997 J. Seabrook Deeper v. 135 I..downloaded the Installer to my computer, read the Read Me file, and followed the instructions.

2005 Computer Gaming World (Nexis) 1 Oct. 76 These games are, as the readme file warns, strictly for nostalgia's sake.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	read
释义	readn. Brit. /riːd/, U.S. /rid/ Forms: Old English ræde, Old English redes (Northumbrian, genitive), Old English redo (Northumbrian), Old English (Anglian)–early Middle English rede, 1800s– read. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: read v. Etymology: < read v.In Old English both as a weak feminine (rǣde ) and as a strong feminine (Northumbrian rēdo ; also in Northumbrian as masculine or neuter genitive singular rēdes ). The word apparently became obsolete during the Middle English period and was re-formed in the 19th cent. In sense 3 perhaps partly short for read-in n.¹ or read-out n. 1. An act of reading or perusing written matter; a spell of reading. Hence, something for reading (usually with modifying word, as good, bad, etc., indicating its value as a source of entertainment or information).In Old and Middle English spec.: †an act of reading aloud, a lesson (obsolete). ΘΚΠ society > communication > reading > [noun] > act or spell of readOE readingOE OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Luke (headings to readings) lxxxix Quae lectio potest quolibet tempore dici : ðio redo mæge on sua huælc tid cuoeða. OE Rule St. Benet (Corpus Cambr.) 18 Halige rædan he sceal lustlice gehyran. c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 46 Ine þe alde laȝe þe redere Rede þe prophessye, By wokke; So schulle þe rederes now By rede [emended in ed. to now Hyrede], and conne on-lowke. 1838 W. M. Thackeray Hist. Sam. Titmarsh x When I arrived and took..my first read of the newspaper. 1862 C. Darwin in Life (1887) II. 391 I have just finished, after several reads, your paper. 1902 J. Milne Epist. Atkins i. 8 When the light of morning comes, the soldiers, as one of them records, all have ‘another good read’. 1961 John o' London's 21 Sept. 327/3 My Friend Sandy can be hugely recommended..as a pleasantly light, bright sophisticated read. 1992 Premiere Feb. 26/3 It took me about six reads before I started to relax with it. 2002 Independent on Sunday 19 May (LifeEtc. section) 12/4 This is an authentic, funny, edgy read. 2. Scottish. A loan of a book, etc., for the purpose of reading it; a perusal. ΚΠ 1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. (at cited word) Will ye gie me a read of that book? 1894 A. Gordon Northward Ho! 90 I ha'e brought ye a read o' the paper. 1926 Aberdeen Univ. Rev. Mar. 112 It gaed roon fae hoose tae hoose, an' A min' ma fadder eest t' get the fift read o' ane. 3. Computing. The action or an act of transferring data to or from an electronic device; esp. the copying or extraction of data that is in or on a data storage medium or device; cf. read v. 11e, Phrasal verbs 1. Cf. earlier read-in n.¹, read-out n. 1a. ΘΚΠ society > computing and information technology > data > database > [noun] > transfer or manipulation data transfer1935 reading1946 read-out1946 block move1962 read1970 1970 H. A. Rodgers Dict. Data Processing Terms 88/2 Read, 1 v. To obtain data from some source... 2 n. The operation of reading. 1989 PC World Oct. 163/1 As a result, your CPU spends virtually no time at all waiting for disk reads—an inherent logjam that slows processing time significantly. 1996 H. G. Cragon Memory Syst. & Pipelined Processors ii. 34 The effective access time..for a read is the weighted average access time. 2004 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 101 5590 (caption) The following equation was..based on effective query length,..average length of database reads,..and the number of hits. 4. Originally U.S. An analysis, interpretation, or assessment of a situation, person, etc.; (Sport, esp. American Football) a judgement regarding the state of play or the intentions of an opponent. Frequently with on. Cf. read v. 7b, 7c. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > interpretation > [noun] interpretation1382 reckingc1450 explication1537 interpretament1645 outmaking1669 rede1871 read1974 1974 N.Y. Times 28 Oct. 44/5 I was able to get a good read on Joe and I saw Barkum make his break. 1978 Washington Post 8 Oct. e8/2 A pioneer getting his read on the lay of new land. 1988 First Down 19 Nov. 4/1 I make my reads, I drop back and I throw the ball. 1990 Tennis July 37/2 If you don't get a good read on the ball, you'll get a late jump and catch the ball behind you. 1991 T. Clancy Sum of all Fears i. 18 What's your read on the concept? 2006 Inside Edge June 89/3 Master your table image and, like a moving target, tablemates will find it hard to get a read on you. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022). readadj. Brit. /rɛd/, U.S. /rɛd/ Forms: see read v. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: read v. Etymology: < the past participle of read v. Compare earlier unread adj.Compare the following isolated early example, in a sense (probably ‘versed in’) which does not have reference specifically to written text:a1325 (?c1300) Northern Passion (Cambr. Gg.1.1) 1281 Godde þat red his of alle rede, Soffred deth for man is nede. 1. a. Of a person: experienced, versed, or informed in a subject by reading. Also read up (cf. to read up 2a at read v. Phrasal verbs). Only in predicative use.Used simply and with adverbs; now chiefly in well-read adj. 2a. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > scholarly knowledge, erudition > intellectual command, mastery > [adjective] well-learedeOE well-learned1425 ripe1458 well-informeda1500 well-studied1530 travailed1551 great1552 learned1556 read1574 well-read1574 long on1875 1574 J. Whitgift Def. Aunswere to Admon. 754 M. Doctor had beene so well read in the auncient Doctors. 1592 A. Day 2nd Pt. Eng. Secretorie sig. T3, in Eng. Secretorie (rev. ed.) He ought..to be well languaged, to be sufficiently red in Histories and Antiquities. 1632 P. Massinger Emperour of East iii. iv. sig. G2^v You are read in story; call to remembrance [etc.]. 1682 J. Dryden Religio Laici Pref. sig. a3 Every man who is read in Church History. 1707 M. Prior Epil. to Phaedra 3 An Oxford Man, extreamly read in Greek. 1798 J. Ferriar Illustr. Sterne ii. 35 He was deeply read in Beroalde. 1857 Ecclesiologist 18 208 Chaucer, who was evidently quite as read in the Latin classics, as a well-educated person would be in the present day. 1883 H. E. Manning Eternal Priesthood xx. 277 He is a welcome visitor..a ready and amusing guest, read up in the newspapers, and full of the events of the day. 1985 S. Hood Storm from Paradise (1988) 53 She was cultured, widely read in three languages, without religion. 2003 M. L. Raphael Judaism in Amer. vii. 148 Deeply read in..Jewish philosophy,..she insisted that Jews had an unbroken cultural tradition of uninterrupted creativeness. b. Informed by reading, acquainted with books or literature, learned. Chiefly in predicative use. See also read v. 8b.Now only with modifying adverbs; chiefly in well-read adj. 2b. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > scholarly knowledge, erudition > [adjective] > skilled in letters book-lereda1250 lettereda1375 bookeda1393 texted14.. letterlya1425 literate?a1475 book-learnedc1475 clerklya1529 book-read1591 bookwise1593 read1594 letter-learned1771 book-formed1798 1592 Greenes Groats-worth of Witte sig. D3^v Why Roberto, are you so well read, and yet shewe your selfe so shallow witted.] 1594 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus iv. i. 33 Thou art deeper read and better skild. View more context for this quotation 1607 T. Middleton Revengers Trag. v. sig. I3 Is it so? You are read my Lords. 1650 N. Ward Discolliminium 43 If any read Gentleman or Divine will assoile these doubts, I shall be very much beholding to him. 1711 A. Pope Ess. Crit. 35 The Bookful Blockhead, ignorantly read, With Loads of Learned Lumber in his Head. 1824 T. Jefferson Writings (1830) IV. 398 I might defy the best read lawyer to produce another scrap of authority for this judiciary forgery. 1859 Mrs R. Cartwright Pilgrim Walks 244 O learned ones, so deeply read, What is this voice might wake the dead? 1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 504/1 [Albertus Magnus] was the most widely read and most learned man of his time. 1993 N.Y. Times 21 Nov. ii. 30/6 Though largely self-taught, she was..widely read and she helped me understand both Freud and Marx. 2. That is read. a. Of a speech, prayer, or the like: that is read out from a script, etc., rather than extemporized or recited from memory. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > speech-making > recitation > [adjective] > that is read out read?1580 ?1580 R. Harrison in R. Harrison & R. Browne Writings (1953) 34 Whosoeuer desireth to liue godlie In Christ Jesus..worshipping god wi^tout the bondage of read prayers, in popish wise..suffer violence. 1642 S. Rutherford Peaceable Plea 326 None by any Act of our Church..is obliged to a stinted or read prayer. 1781 Reading not Preaching ii. 9 Your read papers is a lame service. 1852 G. Gilfillan Martyrs, Heroes, & Bards Sc. Covenant (1853) ix. 228 The question about an ex tempore or a read prayer was equivalent to ‘Under which king do you serve—King Charles or King Jesus?’ 1901 Westm. Gaz. 10 Dec. 11/1 The trouble of attending the meeting to hear a read speech. 1927 F. J. Gillman Evol. Eng. Hymn 193 They were mistaken in assuming that a read prayer must necessarily be an unreal prayer. 1975 Listener 14 Aug. 195/2 The previous version of Yesterday in Parliament..was entirely a read account by the newsreader. 2002 Herald (Glasgow) 12 Dec. 19 Mrs Blair, the wife of the prime minister, made a well-rehearsed presentation..in a read speech. b. With modifying adverb: that reaches or has a readership of a specified extent. ΚΠ 1853 M. Howitt tr. F. Bremer Homes of New World I. 43 Longfellow, the author of ‘Evangeline’, is perhaps the best read and the most popular of the poets of America. 1937 P. Grainger Let. 25 Mar. in All-round Man (1994) 136 If you are going to think along these very original & penetrating lines, you ought to become a much read..writer on music. 1992 E. Hoagland in Balancing Acts 108 A widely read book called Man and Nature. 2003 B. Bryson Short Hist. Nearly Everything (2004) xvii. 323 The encyclopedic if little-read International Cloud Atlas runs to two volumes. Compounds read line n. Scottish a line of a metrical psalm or hymn read out on its own; see line n.² 23e. ΚΠ 1901 Remin. Dollar Acad. 122 I have still a recollection of the read line being sung in that congregation. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022). readv. Brit. /riːd/, U.S. /rid/ Inflections: Past tense and past participle read /rɛd/; Forms: 1. Present stem. a. Infinitive Old English radan (rare), Old English rædan, Old English ræddan (rare), Old English rędan, Old English redan, Old English reða (Northumbrian), early Middle English ræde, early Middle English ræðed (imperative plural, transmission error), early Middle English renden (transmission error), Middle English rade, Middle English redd, Middle English redde, Middle English rendyn (transmission error), Middle English reyde, Middle English ride, Middle English ryd, Middle English ryde, Middle English–1500s reed, Middle English–1600s reade, Middle English–1600s reede, Middle English–1700s red, Middle English– read, Middle English– rede (now archaic: see rede v.¹), late Middle English rude (probably transmission error), late Middle English 1500s rode (probably transmission error), 1500s rid (in senses of rede v.¹); English regional 1800s redd (north midlands, in senses of rede v.¹), 1800s– rede (northern); Scottish pre-1700 reade, pre-1700 reyd, pre-1700 rid, pre-1700 ride, pre-1700 ried, pre-1700 ryd, pre-1700 (1700s in sense 1a) reed, pre-1700 1700s–1800s red, pre-1700 1700s– read, pre-1700 1700s– rede, pre-1700 1800s reid, pre-1700 1800s reide, 1700s–1800s redd, 1800s rad, 1800s redde (in senses of rede v.¹). b. 3rd singular indicative. α. Old English (rare)–early Middle English ræd, Old English–early Middle English ræt, Old English (rare)–Middle English ret, Middle English rat, Middle English rate, Middle English ratt, Middle English read (south-west midlands), Middle English reat (south-west midlands), Middle English red, Middle English rette. β. Old English–early Middle English rædeþ, Old English–early Middle English rædeð, Old English (Northumbrian)–Middle English 1800s– redes (now archaic: see rede v.¹), early Middle English radeþ, early Middle English readeð, Middle English readeþ (in senses of rede v.¹), Middle English reded, Middle English redeþ, Middle English redeð, Middle English redis, Middle English rediþ, Middle English redith, Middle English rhedys (transmission error), Middle English ridyth, Middle English–1500s redeth, Middle English–1600s reades, 1500s–1600s readeth, 1600s reedes, 1600s– reads; also Scottish pre-1700 reddis, pre-1700 redis, pre-1700 redys, pre-1700 reeds, pre-1700 reids, 1700s redds (in senses of rede v.¹), 1900s– redes (in senses of rede v.¹). 2. Past tense. a. Strong α. Old English hreordun (Mercian, plural), Old English reord. β. Old English redon (plural). b. Weak Old English hræddon (plural, rare), Old English ræde (rare), Old English–early Middle English rædde, Old English–Middle English redde, Middle English rade, Middle English raded, Middle English rardde (transmission error), Middle English readde (south-west midlands and south-western), Middle English rededen (plural), Middle English reid (northern), Middle English reided, Middle English 1500s rad, Middle English 1500s radde, Middle English–1500s rede, Middle English–1500s 1800s redd, Middle English–1700s red, 1500s reade (in senses of rede v.¹), 1500s– read; Scottish pre-1700 rad, pre-1700 redd, pre-1700 reid, pre-1700 1700s– read, pre-1700 (1900s rare) rede (in senses of rede v.¹), pre-1700 1900s– red; N.E.D. (1904) also records a form Middle English rat. 3. Past participle. a. Strong Old English ræden, Middle English reddynn (northern), 1500s readen. b. Weak Old English geræd, Old English gerædd, Old English geredd, Old English gereded (Northumbrian), Old English raed (in a late copy), Old English ræd, Old English rædd, Old English ræded, late Old English–early Middle English gered, early Middle English iræd, Middle English eradde, Middle English irad, Middle English iradde, Middle English ired, Middle English iredde, Middle English irede, Middle English raad, Middle English radde, Middle English rade, Middle English redd, Middle English rede, Middle English reedd, Middle English yrad, Middle English yrade, Middle English yred, Middle English yrudde, Middle English–1500s redde, Middle English–1700s rad, Middle English–1700s red, 1500s reade, 1500s reed, 1500s– read; Scottish pre-1700 rad, pre-1700 raid, pre-1700 redde, pre-1700 reed, pre-1700 reid, pre-1700 1700s–1800s red, pre-1700 1700s–1800s rede, pre-1700 1700s– read, pre-1700 1800s– redd; also Irish English (northern) 1800s redd. Origin: A word inherited from Germanic. Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian rēda to advise, to deliberate, to help, Middle Dutch rāden to advise, to suggest, to convince, to devise, to guess, to think, to plot (Dutch raden ), Old Saxon rādan to advise, to plan, to arrange (Middle Low German rāden , also in senses ‘to rule’, ‘to predict’, ‘to relate’), Old High German rātan , rāten to advise, to deliberate, to assist, to plot (Middle High German rāten , also in sense ‘to guess’; German raten ), Old Icelandic ráða to advise, to devise, to plot, to rule, to explain, to read, interpret, to punish, to undertake, Norn (Shetland) ro to rule, Old Swedish råþa to advise, to deliberate, to rule, to determine, to deal with, to fathom, to interpret (Swedish råda ), Old Danish rathæ to advise, to deliberate, to rule, to see to, to comprehend (Danish råde , †raade ), Gothic -redan , probably < the same Indo-European base as Early Irish ráidid says, speaks (Irish ráidh ; compare Early Irish imm-rádi deliberates, considers), Old Church Slavonic raditi to take thought (about a thing), to attend to, to take care of (a thing), Sanskrit rādh- to succeed, accomplish. Compare rede v.¹, rede v.², and also rede n.¹ In Old English and Middle English the present word is attested with a wide range of senses, including ‘to advise’, ‘to deliberate’ (compare the semantic range of the Germanic cognates). These senses, now archaic, poetic, or regional, are in modern use usually distinguished in form as rede v.¹ In modern Scots and in English regional use the spelling rede is sometimes also found for senses other than those at rede v.¹, apparently chiefly to indicate senses regarded as obsolete or archaic in standard English, such as senses 1 and 2 (in the case of sense 2 in so far as the reinterpretation discussed at that sense has not taken place). A comparable archaic or historic use of the spelling rede is occasionally found elsewhere in literary texts (see sense 19). (In early Middle English a similar distinction is found in a group of texts from the south-west midlands, except that there the distinction is reversed, with readen being found in ‘to advise, direct’ and related senses and reden in ‘to interpret, read’ and related senses: see S. R. T. O. d'Ardenne Þe Liflade ant te Passiun of Seinte Iuliene (1961) 248.) While senses corresponding to branch I. (‘to interpret’, etc.) are found in other Germanic languages (for the semantic associations of the stem in Germanic compare also riddle n.¹), the sense ‘to scan a written text’, etc. is current only in English. In Old Icelandic this sense is modelled on Old English and is now obsolete. However, the Old Icelandic phrase ráða rúnar ‘to interpret runes’ is apparently inherited from early Scandinavian (it is attested early in Swedish as well). A comparable use may have been transferred by the Anglo-Saxons from runic writing to Latin script, whereas in other Germanic languages reflexes of the Germanic base of lease v.¹ acquired this sense, after classical Latin legere to choose, to read (see lection n.). Historically, read v. shows the reflex of a Germanic strong verb of Class VII, belonging to a small subgroup derived from Germanic verbs whose past tense was formed by reduplication (see A. Campbell Old Eng. Gram. (1959) §§736(j), 746); compare Gothic -rairoþ (past tense, with reduplication), -redans (past participle, without reduplication). In other Germanic languages this verb was assimilated to non-reduplicative Class VII verbs; compare the following past tense and past participle forms: Old Frisian rēd , Middle Dutch riet , ried (also reet ), past participle gherāden (Dutch ried , geraden ), Old Saxon rēd , ried , past participle girādan (Middle Low German rēt , gerāden ), Old High German riat , past participle girātan (Middle High German riet , geraten ; German riet , geraten ), Old Icelandic réð , past participle ráðinn , Old Swedish ræþ , reþ , past participle raþin (Swedish (past participle) †råden ). In Old English the same pattern as in Gothic is shown by reord (past tense, showing original reduplication) and gerǣden (past participle), but these are found only in a few instances in Anglian texts (see Forms 2 (i) and Forms 3 (i)). A past tense form rēd , assimilated (as in other Germanic languages except Gothic) to non-reduplicative Class VII verbs, is also attested. However, for the most part the verb belongs to the weak conjugation (see Forms 2 (ii) and Forms 3 (ii)), the usual inflectional pattern being rǣdde , gerǣd(e)d , corresponding to the paradigm of weak Class I verbs such as lǣdan lead v.¹ For similar developments in other Germanic languages compare: (past tense) Dutch raadde , Middle Low German radde , redde , German (rare) ratete (now obsolete or nonstandard, for usual riet ), Old Swedish radde (Swedish rådde ), Danish rådede , †rådte ; (past participle) Middle Dutch (rare) gheraet . The early switch to the weak conjugation in English has been attributed to association with rede v.², with which the word was associated formally and probably also semantically, although this is difficult to be certain of, since each of these two stems occurs with a wide and partially overlapping range of senses in Germanic languages (compare e.g. Gothic raidjan ‘to establish, to correctly determine, to interpret’ with branch I.). The two verbs are sometimes regarded as completely merged in Old English. There is no certain evidence for continuity of the strong past tense forms beyond the Old English period. In Middle English the strong past tense may be continued in some past tense forms that appear to show a long close vowel e and a single stem-final consonant (compare especially Scots reid : see Forms 2 (ii)), but these could also be due to analogy with present tense forms. As regards the strong past participle forms, the single northern Middle English strong past participle form reddynn (see Forms 3 (i)) appears to be influenced by the weak participle form redd . It is very doubtful whether the apparently isolated early modern English strong participle form readen indicates any continuity with the Old English strong inflection. The expected stem vowel in the present tense and weak past tense in Old English is West Saxon (and apparently also East Saxon) rǣd- , Anglian and Kentish rēd- . Later reflexes of rǣd- in areas where those of rēd- would be expected show that this pattern was disrupted, perhaps already in the Old English period through the influence of rede v.², but probably also later through interdialectal borrowing. Weak past tense forms such as Middle English radde (see Forms 2 (ii)) derive by early shortening before double consonant < Old English rǣdde (whereas Older Scots rad alternatively may show lowering of the vowel in red ). Weak past tense and past participle forms such as Middle English redde derive either < Old English rēdde or (by later shortening) < early Middle English redde /rɛːddə/ ( < Old English rǣdde ). The early modern English evidence shows much variation in the vowel of the infinitive in the standard language between reflexes of rǣd- and rēd- ( E. J. Dobson Eng. Pronunc. 1500–1700 (ed. 2, 1968) II. § 118). These have become homophonous as /riːd/. The modern standard spelling read reflects the form with the reflex of Middle English open ē ( < Old English rǣd- ). The present-day spelling of the past tense and past participle forms is analogous to the present tense; the spelling red for past tense and past participle is found only in isolated instances in the modern period and was perhaps avoided because it coincided with the standard spelling of red adj. There is only very tenuous evidence for extension of the (long) vowel of the present tense to the past tense in pronunciation in standard English in the early modern period (see E. J. Dobson Eng. Pronunc. 1500–1700 (ed. 2, 1968) II. § 8). Most of the modern regional forms also show reflexes of the shortened vowel. In Scots and in English regional use extension of the short vowel of the past tense to the present tense is found in forms such as red , redd (see Forms 1 (i) and Forms 1 (ii)), chiefly in senses of rede v.¹ and (in Scots) in senses of branch I. of read v. For what is probably the result of a similar development compare redd v.² beside rede v.² In Old English the prefixed form gerǣdan (compare y- prefix) is also attested, and this survived into early Middle English. Compare also arǣdan aread v., berǣdan berede v., forrǣdan forrede v., misrǣdan misrede v., oferrǣdan over-read v., þurhrǣdan to read through (compare through- prefix and to read through at Phrasal verbs), wiþrǣdan to act against (compare with- prefix). I. To consider, interpret, discern. †1. a. transitive. To think or suppose (that something is the case). In later use chiefly Scottish. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > conceive, form in the mind [verb (transitive)] readOE thinkOE bethinkc1175 makea1400 imaginec1400 conceive?a1425 suppose1586 conceit1591 ideate1610 braina1616 forma1616 engross1632 cogitate1856 conceptualize1873 the mind > mental capacity > belief > supposition, surmise > suppose, surmise [verb (transitive)] ween971 readOE aweena1275 guessc1380 supposec1384 seemc1386 imaginec1405 presupposec1443 deem1470 surmise1509 suspectc1550 doubt1568 expect1592 s'pose1632 fancy1672 sus1958 OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Corpus Cambr.) iii. x. 180 Þa ongann he mid gleawum mode þencean & rædan [eOE Tanner ræsian], þætte nan oðer intinga wære þære stowe [grennis & fægernis]. a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (1987) i. 495 But wel I rede that, by no manere weye, Ne semed it as that she of him roughte. a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1897–1973) 36 (MED) Help, god, in this nede, As thou art stere-man good and best, as I rede, Of all. 1600 N. Breton Pasquils Fooles-cap (rev. ed.) sig. C3 Let him be sure that better wits doe reede, Such Madhead fellowes are but Fooles indeede. 1768 A. Ross Fortunate Shepherdess iii. 122 Goodwife, I reed your tale is true. 1790 A. Shirrefs Poems 86 He's ane, I red, that ye can eithly spare. 1806 J. Black Falls of Clyde 124 Now's the time, I red, O' moon, whan they are wont to gang to bed. b. transitive. To guess, make out, or tell by conjecture (what, who, why, etc.). Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > conjecture, guessing > conjecture, guess [verb (transitive)] readOE ettlec1275 divine1362 areadc1374 conjectc1374 aima1382 imaginec1405 supposec1405 imagine1477 conjecture1530 guessa1535 harpa1616 foreguess1640 OE Riddle 61 9 Ræd hwæt ic mæne. OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xiv.141 Iudei..mid anum wæfelse his neb bewundon, sleande mid handbredum, huxlice and gelome, and heton hine rædan hwa hine hrepode. a1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesworth (Arun.) (1857) 161 (MED) Red qwat it may beo. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 597 Þow mai ask..qui god him gaue sua mikel a nam; Parfay, þat [es] bot eth to rede. a1450 in R. L. Greene Early Eng. Carols (1935) 279 I haue a jelyf of Godes sonde... It can smytyn and haght non honde; Ryd yourself quat it may be. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 681/2 Rede who tolde it me and I wyll tell the trouthe. 1564 in F. J. Furnivall Child-marriages, Divorces, & Ratifications Diocese Chester (1897) 124 This deponent askid the said Margaret, who that shuld be; and the said Margaret bade this deponent reade if he cold. 1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. xii. sig. Aa8^v Right hard it was, for wight, which did it heare, To read, what manner musicke that mote bee. c. transitive. To take for something. Obsolete. rare. archaic in quot. 1813. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > evaluation, estimation, appraisal > appraise, estimate [verb (transitive)] > view in a certain way findOE telllOE to take for ——a1393 receivec1400 notec1440 reputec1475 esteem1532 read1591 estimate1609 relish1617 set1648 resent1649 view1715 contemplate1785 1591 E. Spenser Ruines of Time in Complaints 633 I saw a stately Bed,..That might for anie Princes couche be red. 1813 W. Scott Rokeby iii. 128 I read you for a bold dragoon, That lists the tuck of drum. 2. a. transitive. To make out, discover, or expound the meaning or significance of (a riddle, dream, omen, etc.). Cf. sense 11b.In quot. 1862 used reflexively. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > a profound secret, mystery > puzzle, enigma, riddle > solution of puzzle, riddle, etc. > expound, solve [verb (transitive)] areadOE readOE expound1535 unriddlea1586 riddle me a riddle1588 to riddle forth1624 riddle1627 to riddle out1647 rede1725 discruciatea1745 redd1876 the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > interpretation of dreams > interpret [verb (transitive)] unloukOE areadOE undo?a1366 expound1375 cast1382 rechec1540 read1587 redec1640 OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 179 Con[i]cio,..ic ræde swefn. OE tr. Apollonius of Tyre (1958) iii. 4 Ac gif heora hwilc þonne þurh asmeagunge boclicre snotornesse þone rædels ariht rædde, þonne wearð se to beheafdunge gelæd swa same swa se ðe hine ariht ne rædde. ?a1300 Iacob & Iosep (Bodl.) (1916) 311 (MED) Þe king wel feire his sweuen he tolde & bad swiþe feire reden þat he hit ssolde. a1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesworth (Arun.) (1857) 161 (MED) Red that redeles. Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 426 (MED) Redyn or expownyn redellys or parabol and other privyteys, idem quod ondon. 1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. xii. 198 Thou seest him taken out of Prison to reade the Kings Dreames. 1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress Author's Apol. sig. A6^v Would'st thou read Riddles, & their Explanation? View more context for this quotation 1728 A. Ramsay Robert, Richy, & Sandy 34 Ah! now my dream its red. 1768 A. Ross Fortunate Shepherdess iii. 124 I'm right, I'm right! My dream is read. 1862 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia III. xiv. vii. 724 The small riddle reads itself to him so. 1886 J. Ruskin Præterita II. i. 24 Neither he nor I were given to reading omens, or dreading them. 1929 R. Bridges Test. Beauty ii. 260 To read the strange riddle of the hiving bees. 1976 H. Wilson Governance of Brit. iii. 42 The Civil Service is..politically, almost cynically, dispassionate in reading the electoral portents. 2003 T. Crockett Stone Age Wisdom iv. 118 When I help someone read a dream or an object they have brought to me, I provide options. b. transitive. To foresee, foretell, predict (a person's fortune, the future, etc.). Also followed by clause. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > fortune-telling > tell someone's fortune [verb (transitive)] read1565 fortune-tella1616 redec1640 the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination by natural phenomena > palmistry > divine by chiromancy [verb (transitive)] read1565 redec1640 chiromance1873 1565 A. Golding tr. Ovid Fyrst Fower Bks. Metamorphosis iii. f. 6 Folke too haue their fortunes readde..dayly dyd resorte. 1591 E. Spenser Prosopopoia in Complaints sig. O^v For he mongst Ladies could their fortunes read. 1679 C. Cotton Confinement 30 Old Granams shake their empty heads, and cry, I long before read this his destiny. 1725 A. Ramsay Gentle Shepherd iii. ii. 42 Nor come I to redd Fortunes for Reward. 1790 A. Shirrefs Poems 122 Like gospel, Sir, she credits a' ye said, And says, she's sure 'twill happen as ye read. 1806 R. Jamieson Pop. Ballads I. 237 And this black hour be past, I rede ye'll rue it sair. 1845 C. Dickens Chimes i. 37 He could not bear that Meg, in the blush of her brief joy, should have her fortune read by these wise gentlemen. 1962 H. Nemerov Next Room of Dream 78 Find me a witch, a wizard, anyone Who hears God, reads the future, traffics with the dead. a1974 B. L. Coombes With Dust still in his Throat (1999) 72 Let me read your fortune in the cup, Mr Gelder. 2002 J. E. Fortin Method in Madness ii. 68 He readily agrees to let her read his fortune, but she steals his watch. †3. transitive. To count, reckon, estimate. English regional in later use. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > enumeration, reckoning, or calculation > number, calculate, or reckon [verb (transitive)] rimeeOE arimec885 atellc885 talec897 i-telle971 tellOE readc1225 reckon?c1225 aima1375 numbera1382 denumber1382 accounta1393 casta1400 countc1400 umberc1400 ascribe1432 annumerate?a1475 to sum upa1475 annumbera1500 ennumber1535 reckon?1537 tally1542 compute1579 recount1581 rate1599 catalogize1602 to add up1611 suma1616 enumeratea1649 numerate1657 to run up1830 to figure out1834 figure1854 to count up1872 enumer1936 c1225 (?c1200) St. Juliana (Bodl.) 473 Ne mahte hit na mon rikenin ne reden [c1225 Royal tellen]. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 2570 (MED) Þe barns þat o þe sal bred Namar sal þou þam cun rede Þan sterns on light and sand in see. a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 2484 (MED) Swa may we ay rekken and rede An hondreth syns agayne a gude dede. 1451–1500 (c1400) Vision of Tundale 409 (MED) Over þat pitte he se a brigge..Hit was a thousand steppes to rede. 1790 F. Grose Provinc. Gloss. (ed. 2) Read, to judge of, guess. At what price do you Read this horse? Glouc. †4. transitive. To see, discern, distinguish. Obsolete. rare (chiefly in Spenser). ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (transitive)] > succeed in seeing or catch sight of underyetec1000 aspya1250 kenc1275 ofyetec1275 choosea1300 akenc1300 descrivec1300 ofkenc1300 readc1300 espyc1320 descryc1330 spyc1380 discernc1405 discover1553 scan1558 scry1558 decern1559 describe1574 to make out1575 escry1581 interview1587 display1590 to set sight of (in)c1595 sight1602 discreevec1650 glance1656 to catch a glimpse of1679 steal1731 oversee1735 glimpse1779 twig1796 to clap eyes on1838 spot1848 sky1900 c1300 Body & Soul (Laud Misc. 108) (1889) 43 (MED) Þat tou ne were and red roun, Nevere did i þing ne spac. c1426 J. Audelay Poems (1931) 222 (MED) Þe red rowys of þe day þe rynkkys kouþyn rade. 1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. i. sig. A6 Such vgly monstrous shapes elswher may no man reed. 1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene iii. ix. sig. Ll Good by paragone Of euill, may more notably be rad. 1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene v. xii. sig. Y8^v Bit him behind, that long the marke was to be read . View more context for this quotation II. To scan or study writing silently or (esp. in early use) by oneself or for one's own benefit. 5. a. transitive. To inspect and interpret in thought (any signs which represent words or discourse); to look over or scan (something written, printed, etc.) with understanding of what is meant by the letters or signs; to peruse or be in the habit of perusing (a book, periodical, the work of an author, etc.).Formerly used in imperative (as in quot. 1563) to refer the reader to another source. ΘΚΠ society > communication > reading > [verb (transitive)] readOE turnc1300 see1379 revolve1485 peruse1532 supervise1541 the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > meaning of linguistic unit > mean, signify, express [verb (transitive)] tokenc888 meaneOE sayOE bequeathc1175 signifya1382 beara1400 bemeana1400 soundc1400 designc1429 applyc1450 betoken1502 express1526 conveya1568 intend1572 carry1584 denotate1597 pronounce1610 to set out1628 implya1640 speak1645 denote1668 designate1741 describe1808 enunciate1859 read1894 OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: John xix. 20 Hunc..titulum multi legerunt Iudaeorum : ðiosne..taccon..menigo redon [OE Rushw. reddun] ðara iudeana. lOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Bodl.) Proem 1 For Godes naman he halsað ælcne þara þe þas boc rædan lyste, þæt he for hine gebidde. c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) Ded. l. 328 Þa crisstene menn. Þatt herenn oþerr redenn. Þiss boc. c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 2244 Stille boc runen heo senden him to ræden. c1350 Apocalypse St. John: A Version (Harl. 874) (1961) 5 (MED) After he blisses alle þat reden or heren þe wordes of þis prophecie. c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. iii. 334 (MED) Ac þow art like a lady þat redde a lessoun ones. 1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) (1859) i. xxii. 23 He hath redde and knowen bothe wordes and werkes of the rather seyntes. 1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 684/2 I can proue that he red some commentours and holy doctours, that write exposicions vpon it. 1563 J. Shute First Groundes Archit. sig. Bii The Pyramides..and manye other beautifull buildinges of that nacion. Reade Diado. Sic. li. 1. 2. 1617 F. Moryson Itinerary ii. 230 Because I am not sure whether you can perfectly reade her Maiesties hand, I send you the same in a coppy. 1646 in Hamilton Papers (1880) 126 One word of it which I reade without my cipher. 1711 A. Pope Ess. Crit. 15 A perfect Judge will read each Work of Wit With the same Spirit that its Author writ. 1795 Waldeck Abbey I. i. 3 I expect this my book to be read by all degrees and ranks in life, from the Prince to the peasant. 1828 E. Bulwer-Lytton Pelham I. ii. 7 She had read all the historical romances of the day. 1894 Academy 7 July 6/2 A thousand people..may read Virgil; but every one will apperceive him differently. 1925 V. Woolf Mrs. Dalloway 114 No decent man ought to read Shakespeare's sonnets. 1937 Life 13 Sept. 119/1 (caption) They read the books for the blind made with Braille dots. 1986 PC Week (Nexis) 17 June 105 The user has to perform manually all the steps required to read his or her E-mail. 2007 N.Y. Mag. 28 May 40/3 You don't even have the concentration skills to read a book. b. transitive. To interpret or be able to interpret the written form of (a language); to peruse books, etc., written in (a language).Sometimes used in contrast to being able to write or speak a language. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > a language > using or speaking languages > speak a language [verb (transitive)] > understand a language understanda1000 reada1400 eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) Pref. 7 Ic ða gemunde hu sio lar Lædengeðiodes ær ðissum afeallen wæs giond Angelcynn, & ðeah monige cuðon Englisc gewrit arædan.] a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 20064 (MED) In sotherin englis was it draun, And turnd it haue i till our aun Langage o northrin lede, þat can nan oiþer englis rede. a1450 Dis. Women (Douce) in Proc. Royal Soc. Med. (1916) 9 37 Whomen of our tonge done bettyr rede and undyrstande þys langage þan eny oþer. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 681/2 I rede latyn better nowe than I wene I shall do frenche hence of a yere. 1567 J. Jewel Def. Apol. Churche Eng. vi. iii. §3. 601 Priestes..that, for the more parte, can neither Speake Latine, nor Reade Englishe. 1612 J. Brinsley Ludus Lit. iii. 22 How they may goe thus forward..in reading English perfitly. 1692 J. Locke Some Thoughts conc. Educ. §163 When he can speak and read French well..he should proceed to Latin. 1779 S. Johnson Milton in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets II. 137 He read all the languages which are considered either as learned or polite. 1796 J. Clarke Lett. to Student in Univ. Cambr., Mass. viii. 76 To read the French language with ease; to speak it with propriety; and to write it correctly, are enviable attainments. 1828 E. Bulwer-Lytton Pelham I. ii. 11 I could read Greek fluently, and even translate it. 1873 P. G. Hamerton Intellect. Life iii. vii. 109 By far the shortest way to learn to read a language is to begin by speaking it. 1938 F. S. Fitzgerald Let. May (1964) 31 I thought I'd read Italian to read Dante and didn't get to first base. 1970 A. J. P. Taylor Let. 23 Apr. in Lett. to Eva (1991) 7 I got a..letter in Russian, and as I can't read Russian except with difficulty threw it away. 2002 F. Spufford Child that Bks. Built (2003) iii. 67 You can read English, or Arabic, or Russian, or Hindi by learning between twenty and thirty different squiggles, plus a few punctuation marks. c. transitive. To follow, interpret, or be able to interpret (musical notation); spec. to sight-read (music) (sight-read vb. at sight n.¹ Compounds 3). Also used intransitively. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > perform (music) [verb (transitive)] > read music read1754 sight-read1903 society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > perform music [verb (intransitive)] > read music read1889 sight-read1903 see1955 1754 J. Barrow Suppl. New & Universal Dict. at Accompaniment Suppose, that, before we attempt Accompaniment, we have waited..till we know how to read music fast. 1792 H. Newdigate Let. Mar. in A. E. Newdigate-Newdegate Cheverels (1898) ix. 133 They are quite astonish'd with her knowledge of Music & facility in reading it. 1835 New-Eng. Mag. Oct. 309 Many pupils in these classes read music more readily..than the leaders of choirs. 1889 G. B. Shaw in Star 24 May 4/2 The few who are really able to read at sight. 1938 D. Baker Young Man with Horn i. v. 56 Jeff's band didn't play from music, though they could all read music. 1976 Star (Sheffield) 3 Dec. 16/7 (advt.) Organist required for a 9-day period at Christmas. Must be able to read. 2006 Philadelphia Oct. 28/1 The 37-year-old..has never had formal training and doesn't read a note of music. d. transitive. To go through (books, newspapers, etc.) systematically in order to look for quotations suitable for use as illustrative examples in a dictionary, etc. Also with against (the dictionary or other source used for the purposes of comparison). ΘΚΠ society > communication > reading > [verb (transitive)] > read for illustrative examples read1876 1876 J. A. H. Murray Let. 29 Nov. in K. M. E. Murray Caught in Web of Words (1977) vii. 146 I dont for words of that kind believe in the quotation test at all..because you know that not one millionth of current literature is read. 1961 R. W. Burchfield in Ess. & Stud. 14 39 A large number of literary sources..are being systematically read against an Oxford dictionary. 1990 Dictionaries 28 He worked systematically at reading selected texts and recording instances of words and phrases. 6. a. intransitive. To scan writing, so as to take in the sense; to peruse or occupy oneself in perusing books, etc. Also with adverbs, as away, on, etc. ΘΚΠ society > communication > reading > [verb (intransitive)] readOE OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Mark xiii. 14 Qui legit intellegat : seðe redes oncnauað [OE West Saxon Gospels: Corpus Cambr. ongyte se þe ræt]. OE Vercelli Homilies (1992) iii. 82 Wiotodlice swa hwa swa wile symle mid Gode bion, he sceal gelomlice hine gebiddan & rædan. For þam þonne we us gebiddaþ, þonne sprecaþ we wið God, & þonne we rędaþ, þonne spricþ God wið us. OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 261 Doctus sum; nam legi ic eom gelæred; soðlice, ic rædde. c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 27 Ah lokið swa ich bidde ow þet ȝe ne beon neauer idel ah wurchen oðer reden. c1390 Castle of Love (Vernon) (1967) 1243 Clerkes þat conne reden. c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Wife of Bath's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) Prol. l. 765 Sodeynly thre leues haue I plyght Out of his book right as he radde. 1471 G. Ripley Compound of Alchymy Ep., in E. Ashmole Theatrum Chem. Britannicum (1652) 111 If it please your Highnes for to reade, Of divers Sulphurs. 1483 W. Caxton tr. Caton A ij b He that redeth and no thynge understondeth. 1561 in D. H. Fleming Reg. Christian Congregation St. Andrews 127 He is nocht letterit nor can reid. a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) ii. i. 52 Heere, read, read: perceiue how I might bee knighted. View more context for this quotation 1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd iv. 319 Who reads Incessantly,..Uncertain and unsettl'd still remains. View more context for this quotation 1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones I. i. i. 6 We doubt not but our Reader may be rendered desirous to read on for ever. View more context for this quotation 1760 R. Griffith & E. Griffith Lett. Henry & Frances (ed. 2) I. Pref. p. vi I used to take out a parcel from this collection..and so read away. 1811 L.-M. Hawkins Countess & Gertrude IV. lxvii. 39 ‘I suppose you read a great deal then,’ said Lady Elma, gawkily. 1887 M. E. Braddon Like & Unlike I. i. 13 She had read and thought much in those years. 1933 E. O'Neill Ah, Wilderness! i. 23 Gosh, he's always reading now. It's not my idea of having a good time in vacation. 1990 M. S. Peck Bed by Window iv. 82 Nothing disturbed her when she was reading. Bertha's real life lay in between the pages of her novels. 2006 Birmingham (Alabama) News (Nexis) 1 Mar. 1 n I love to read, and I want others to love to read as much as I do. †b. intransitive. With on or upon. To study or browse in; to peruse or look through. Also: to read aloud from. Obsolete. ΚΠ lOE St. Giles (Corpus Cambr. 303) (1980) 101 Þa geseawon hi ætforen heom an scræf, and æt þæs scræfes dure sæt an litel man, and rædde on anre boc. a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 141 (MED) Ðanne we on boke radeð, ðanne spekeð godd wið us. c1300 (c1250) Floris & Blauncheflur (Cambr.) (1966) l. 578 Heo set at hire boke, And haþ þeron irad & loke. c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Wife of Bath's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) Prol. l. 763 Whan I say he wolde neuere fyne To reden on this cursed book al nyght. c1425 (?a1400) Arthur (Longleat 55) 634 Ho þat woll more loke, Reed on þe frensch boke. c1480 (a1400) St. Peter 711 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 27 Angelis..brocht fra criste to hym a buk..and all þe wordis petir one rad. 1568 (a1500) Freiris Berwik 331 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1930) IV. 270 Quhylis still he satt in studeing and vþir quhylis vpoun his buk reding. 1635 E. Pagitt Christianographie 30 Comming on a Sunday into one of their Congregations..he found one sitting in the midst of them,..reading on a Bible in the Chaldean tongue. 1642 J. Milton Apol. Smectymnuus 9 To take them nightly to read on and after make them his pillow. 1720 A. Pennecuik Streams from Helicon (ed. 2) i. 75 My Aunt, whom nane dare say has no Grace, Was reading on the Pilgrim's Progress. 1764 T. Reid Inq. Human Mind vi. §16 Before the other eye was placed a printed book, at such a distance as that he could read upon it. 1830 J. Hogg in Blackwood's Mag. Nov. 738 Read on our Bibles, pray bedeen. c. intransitive. With in. To study or browse in; to peruse. Now rare. ΚΠ 1340 Ayenbite (1866) 70 (MED) Nou ssel þanne þe ilke þet ine þise boc ret yzy diligentliche to by y-ssriue. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 25953 (MED) Þir thre be takens thre-sum þat we Redand in þe gospell se þat crist al ras fra ded to lijf..þe first a man, [etc.]. 1485 W. Caxton in Malory's Morte Darthur Pref. sig. iij Al noble lordes and ladyes..that shal see and rede in this sayd book. 1530 W. Tyndale Prol. Deut. in Wks. 21/2 This is a booke worthy to be read in, daye and night. 1569 ‘L. Avale’ Commem. Edmonde Boner Pref. sig. A^v Then the fellowe on the other side of the walle, reade in the Bible to hymself alone. a1616 W. Shakespeare Richard II (1623) iv. i. 266 Giue me that Glasse, and therein will I reade. 1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress (ed. 2) 3 He was (as he was wont) reading in his Book. 1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 219 As I was reading in the Bible, and taken up with very serious Thoughts about my present Condition, I was surpriz'd with a Noise of a Gun. 1767 I. Bickerstaff Love in City Pref. p. ii Half an hour's reading in the Oeconomy of Human Life, would have enabled me to ring the changes on them through my three acts. 1820 R. Southey Life Wesley II. 140 Neither had he read in any devotional book. a1894 R. L. Stevenson In South Seas (1896) iii. ii. 236 He lay on the floor upon a bed of mats, reading in his Gilbert Island Bible with compunction. 1942 R. Chandler Let. 16 July in Sel. Lett. (1981) 21 I was reading in an English book the other day and noticed the remark. d. intransitive. To act as a publisher's reader (reader n. 2d), assessing and reporting on works offered for publication. ΘΚΠ society > communication > printing > publishing > publisher > [verb (intransitive)] > act as publisher's reader read1850 1850 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis II. iii. 27 Warrington artfully inspired the two gentlemen who ‘read’ for Messrs. Bacon and Bungay with the greatest curiosity regarding ‘Walter Lorraine’. 1891 G. Gissing New Grub St. I. vi. 122 She..liked to know who ‘read’ for the publishing-houses. 1956 P. Scott Male Child ii. i. 112 I..asked her whether she had ever read for a publisher. 1978 S. Hodges Gollancz iii. 64 They went on reading for him [sc. Gollancz]. 1990 L. Lamplugh Shadowed Man 17 It is astonishing that he had time to read for a publisher. 7. figurative. a. transitive. To study, observe, or interpret (a phenomenon, an object) as though by reading. Now spec.: to analyse or interpret (any cultural product, as a film, ritual, etc.) using methodology analogous to literary criticism or interpretation. ΚΠ c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Physician's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 107 In hir lyuyng maydens myghten rede As in a book euery good word or dede That longeth to a mayden vertuous. 1581 J. Hamilton Catholik Traictise ii. f. 34^v Thou hes red (sayis he) the varkis of the varld. a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) v. i. 291 Ol. How now, art thou mad? Clo. No Madam, I do but reade madnesse. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iv. iv. 174 Hee'l stand and reade As 'twere my daughters eyes. View more context for this quotation 1665 J. Glanvill Scepsis Scientifica xxv. 154 These are the Alphabet of Science, and Nature cannot be read without them. 1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna iv. viii. 79 All the ways of men among mankind he read. 1859 W. Mathews Two Homes III. li. 127 Edward has done violence to his pride; I can read his behaviour. 1923 Music & Lett. 4 304 Bartok..does not subject his native prepossessions to the veneer of cosmopolitanism... This, at least, is how we read his art. 1969 P. McCaughey Austral. Abstr. Art 28 We are made to read the painting and..unravel its complex visual rhythms. 1999 M. K. Booker Film & Amer. Left 72 There are a number of subtle suggestions that we are to read the film as an oblique commentary on the Spanish Civil War. b. transitive. To make out the character or nature of (a person, or his or her heart, thoughts, desires, etc.) by studying and interpreting outward signs. Now esp. in to read (a person's) mind: to guess, intuit, or discern exactly what a person is thinking or intending to do.to read a person like a book: see to read (also know) like a book at book n. Phrases 2m. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > disposition or character > shape inclinations of, dispose [verb (transitive)] > make out character reada1425 to see through ——a1450 the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > interpretation > interpret [verb (transitive)] > character reada1425 translate1584 expound1605 a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (1987) iv. l. 1364 For which, as wisly God my soule rede, I kan nat sen wherof ye sholden drede. ?1592 Trag. Solyman & Perseda sig. D^v If heauens were iust, men should haue open brests, That we therein might read their guilefull thoughts. 1609 R. Jones Mvsicall Dreame viii. sig. E2^v Farewell fond youth, if thou hadst not bin blind out of my eye thou mightst haue read my minde. 1647 N. Bacon Hist. Disc. Govt. sig. B3 Historians, who for the most part doe read men. 1712 J. Swift Proposal for Eng. Tongue 24 This they call knowing the world, and reading Men and Manners. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia I. ii. vii. 285 You are much deceived; you have been reading your own mind, and thought you had read his. 1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Alice I. i. x. 88 I wish you could read my heart at this moment. 1875 H. E. Manning Internal Mission of Holy Ghost vii. 177 The eye of the soul acquires a discernment whereby some can instantly read the characters of others. 1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. (at cited word) Anybody could read 'ee. 1927 D. K. Henderson & R. D. Gillespie Text-bk. Psychiatry 88 In other cases the patient believes that someone reads his thoughts. 1957 J. Braine Room at Top (1960) 221 ‘If you tell me what's wrong, I can do something about it,’ I said. ‘I can't read your mind.’ 1991 Independent 16 Dec. 1/4 As Director of Counter-Terrorism she brought ‘a dramatic ability to read the terrorists' intentions and second-guess them’. 2002 R. Gervais & S. Merchant Office: Scripts 1st Ser. Episode 3. 109 We sort of read each other's minds..and we just start cracking up. c. transitive. To assess precisely any indications or clues given out by (a location, situation, etc.) in order to decide on a course of action.Frequently used of a competitor in sporting matches making a strategic judgement about the state of play or the intentions of an opponent. ΚΠ 1921 P. L. Haworth Trailmakers of Northwest 206 As Brennan had lost one eye and could not see any too well out of the other, he was glad to have one of us ride in his canoe and read water for him. 1948 R. B. Jackson Joe Namath, Superstar 30 He found his toughest job was learning to ‘read’ the defense for the type of pass coverage it was about to employ. 1965 R. Priestley & T. H. Wisdom Good Driving xi. 81 You get into the habit of registering mentally all the signs..which enable you to ‘read’ the road in front of you. 1974 J. D. Jennings in J. Billard World of Amer. Indian 48 (caption) Hohokam men carve a channel, probably ‘reading’ the terrain and choosing a route by eye. 2007 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 14 Sept. Sports, 56 I sit back there and read the opposing quarterback on every play. 8. a. transitive. In early use: to study (a subject), esp. at a university or similar institution. Now (chiefly British): to study (an academic subject) for a university degree; to study for (a degree). Cf. sense 6d. ΘΚΠ society > education > learning > study > [verb (transitive)] > study at university readc1405 c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Franklin's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 412 Yonge clerkes that been lykerous To reden [v.rr. rendyn; lerne] Artz that been curious Seken in euery halke and euery herne Particuler sciences for to lerne. c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 4360 (MED) Ne rede we [ Hist. de preliis non discimus] neuire na retorik ne rial to speke. 1531 J. Bellenden tr. H. Boece Chron. Scotl. (1938) I. vii. iii. 271 He had nocht xx ȝeris of aige quhen he red rethorik in Cartage. 1602 L. Lloyd Stratagems of Ierusalem ii. vii. 178 Arete,..after her fathers death..read philosophie in Athens. a1679 R. Wild Benefice (1689) iv. 42 We read Philosophy, Logick, Divinity.—We learn the Tongues—Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, to fit us for the Church. 1706 J. Vanbrugh Mistake iv. i. 39 I have been Servitor in a Colledge at Salamancho, and read Philosophy with the Doctors. 1782 E. Hasted Hist. Kent II. 716/2 Stephen de Faversham, in 1324, was a monk of Christ Church, Canterbury, and the first of the sort who read divinity in that monastery. 1884 G. Allen Strange Stories 175 Since I have begun reading philosophy for my Greats. 1900 C. C. Munn Uncle Terry 55 I tutored some, read law, and was admitted to the bar. 1966 Rep. Comm. Inq. (Univ. of Oxf.) II. 49 Graduates reading first degrees. 1977 Professional Careers Bull. Autumn 1/1 Partially it has been due to an ever increasing demand from sixth formers to read law. 2003 Church Times 14 Feb. 27/2 He..won a state scholarship to read history at Lincoln College, Oxford. b. intransitive. To study a subject through a course of reading (esp. in preparation for an examination); to study. Cf. to read up 2a at Phrasal verbs. ΘΚΠ society > education > learning > study > [verb (intransitive)] > by reading read1803 to read up1837 1803 ‘Pembrochian’ Gradus ad Cantabrigiam 111 To read, (a very emphatical word);..‘To read for an honour.’ 1823 M. Wilmot Let. 1 Oct. (1935) 202 I trust that Edw^d may obtain the gold medal which he is reading for. 1859 F. W. Farrar Julian Home x. 120 [He] was reading for honours. 1863 E. C. Gaskell Dark Night's Work xv. 271 You knew him at Hamley, I suppose? I remember his reading there with Mr. Ness. 1938 E. C. Lodge Terms & Vacations iv. 51 Those of us who read for University schools went to the different Colleges to lectures. 1991 S. Muthiah Words in Indian Eng. 132 He is reading in the 2nd class. 2000 R. McTair in N. Hopkinson Whispers from Cotton Tree Root 81 I would enter an English Academy to read for a degree. 9. a. transitive. To attach a certain meaning or interpretation to (a text); to take in a particular way. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > interpretation > particular interpretation, construction > interpret in particular way [verb (transitive)] understandc1000 interpretc1380 construea1400 construec1465 to make (a) construction1528 expound1533 confera1555 reada1556 decipher1569 resemble1592 intellect1599 a1556 N. Udall Ralph Roister Doister (?1566) iv. vi. sig. G.ij^v Dyd not I for the nonce..Reade his letter in a wrong sense for daliance? a1593 C. Marlowe Edward II (1594) sig. L1 But read it thus, and thats an other sence:..Vnpointed as it is, thus shall it goe. 1624 R. Montagu Gagg for New Gospell? xxv. 201 Secondly, read it how you will, it is not to purpose. 1702 N. Wyles Sinners Folly Discovered 8 There be some who read these words Two Ways. 1811 C. Lamb in Reflector 2 434 Read it in an ironical sense, and as a piece of covered satire. 1890 Sir N. Lindley in Law Times Rep. 63 690/1 I think there are two methods of reading that order. 1950 Times 22 Feb. 7/3 An equally inconspicuous reference in one of the pamphlets..was afterwards read as having notified the country of the party's intention. 1969 Listener 30 Jan. 157/2 David Haworth's Observer report on a demarcation dispute in Barrow may be read as a classic story of an employer setting two unions against each other. 2004 Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Dec. 15/4 Aksyonov's..novel can be read as allegory. b. transitive. In extended use: to take a particular view of (a person, thing, event, etc.); to regard or interpret in a certain way. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > expressed belief, opinion > mental attitude, point of view > view in particular way [verb (transitive)] seea1325 read1847 perceive1884 the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > interpretation > interpret [verb (transitive)] unloukOE areadOE spele?c1225 inredec1315 expounda1340 construe1399 interpretate1517 explain1538 scan1562 disentraverse1610 unspherea1616 explicate1628 spell1635 disenvelop1741 extract1775 interpret1795 clarify1823 read1847 to read between the lines1866 the mind > mental capacity > belief > expressed belief, opinion > hold an opinion [verb (transitive)] > form an opinion > of a certain kind regard?1518 take1518 contain1602 read1847 1847 A. Helps Friends in Council I. i. 10 This is a matter which, as I read it, concerns only the higher natures. 1866 J. Martineau Ess. Philos. & Theol. 1st Ser. 190 Every relative disability may be read two ways. 1968 R. Severn Game for Hawks x. 120 ‘How d'you read her, Cass?’ he asked, sourly. ‘Could she be taking you for a ride?’ 1991 M. E. Wertsch Military Brats x. 321 Both overachievement and underachievement by military brats can be read as efforts by outsiders to reach out for recognition. 2005 N.Y. Mag. 4 Apr. 49/3 His makeup can be read as an extreme racial-identity crisis. 10. transitive. To adopt or present as a reading in a particular passage; to substitute or understand (a word or phrase) for another when reading, in order to correct or alter the sense of a passage. In later use frequently ironic. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > literary and textual criticism > textual criticism > version of text > create version of text [verb (transitive)] > adopt or give as reading read1563 the world > time > change > exchange > substitution > substitute [verb (transitive)] > in speech or writing read1868 1563 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1890) II. 83/1 In the x. leif, i. face, xi. line, reid left. 1631 W. Gouge Gods Three Arrowes iii. §71. 315 Where they found Iehovah expressed, they read Adonai, which is pointed with the same pricks. 1697 R. Bentley Diss. Epist. Phalaris 20 I cannot..comprehend why the most learned Is. Casaubon will read σπεύδοντα in this passage, and not σπένδοντα. 1759 T. Ruddiman Animadver. Vind. Buchanan 60 Instead of..sexagesimo quinto, we should read,..sexagesimo nono. 1789 B. Franklin Autobiogr. (1964) iii. 229 The Bill express'd that all Estates real and personal were to be taxed, those of the Proprietaries not excepted. His Amendment was; for not read only. A small but very material Alteration! 1847 F. Madden Laȝamon's Brut III. 346 For Lovaine some copies of Wace read Alemaigne. 1868 M. E. Grant Duff Polit. Surv. 16 For monasteries, we should read convents, mission-houses, and seminaries. 1905 N.E.D. at Marriage Modern editors read marriage rite or rites [for marriage sight in Shakespeare's Pericles xv. 17]. 1966 ‘A. Hall’ 9th Directive xxi. 193 For snatch read abduction. For swop read exchange. Never a bloody spade. 2003 Independent 8 Oct. 16/2 His priority was policing for ‘local people’,..pledging a much bigger role for ‘local action’ (for which read mob rule). 11. In extended use: to scan and interpret (something presenting information in an encoded form). a. transitive. To consult or interpret (a map, plan, or the like). See also map-read v. ΘΚΠ society > communication > reading > [verb (transitive)] > to decipher or interpret, read areadc885 unspell1665 reada1681 decipher1709 to make out1715 render1864 a1681 J. Lacy Sr. Hercules Buffoon (1684) iv. ii. 33 La. Greenland you know lies under the Line. Her. It does so; thou hast travell'd or read Maps I find. 1712 Some Remarks on Lett. between L—d T—d & Mr. Se—tary B—le 10 One would hardly have thought it possible, that any Man who had..Knowledge enough to read a Map..could suffer himself to be so grossly impos'd upon. 1771 J. Bethune Ess. Var. Subj. (new ed.) I. 211 One who would undertake to travel without a guide because he had read a map of the country. 1874 Proc. Royal Geogr. Soc. 19 70 A model of the ground may be used..to teach the reading of a map of the same area. 1934 Archit. Rev. 75 66 (caption) Isolux diagram. This should be read similar to a contour map. 1974 Times 19 Feb. 15/3 Most people are not used to ‘reading’ plans..and have only slightly less difficulty with architectural photographs. 1992 Joiners' Q. No. 33. 43/2 This workshop will enable students to read plans and understand the arcane mysteries of..construction drawings. 2007 Bristol Evening Post (Nexis) 13 Sept. 44 New research released this week reveals that about 11 million motorists cannot read a basic road map. b. transitive. To study and expound the meaning of (something supposed to give indications of the future or the occult, as a person's palm, an animal's entrails, etc.). Also in figurative context. ΚΠ 1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall II. xxiii. 373 To draw forth the heart or liver, and to read, with the consummate skill of an haruspex, the imaginary signs of future events. 1782 W. Cowper Charity in Poems 197 He reads the skies. 1851 M. Reid Scalp Hunters II. iv. 49 Indians can ‘read’ the smoke at a great distance. 1867 Craig Palmistry 42 One of the greatest of all difficulties in reading the hand. 1932 L. Golding Magnolia St. ii. ii. 300 In the little town in..Lancashire where she was born quite as many people read tea-leaves as read their ABC. 1936 ‘J. Tey’ Shilling for Candles vii. 84 Lydia..had read their palms, cheiromancy being a side-line of hers when horoscopes were not available. 1978 Monitor (McAllen, Texas) 12 Feb. 1- b/1 This generation of Gypsies will give up many of the old customs... My job was supposed to be reading palms. 1994 A. Gurnah Paradise (1995) 112 Don't you know any spells? Why don't you slaughter a goat and read its stomach? 2002 BusinessWeek 16 Dec. 160/2 Will the next chairman be able to read the entrails of economic data the way Greenspan can? c. transitive. To take a measurement, reading, indication, etc., from (an instrument, dial, scale, etc.). Also with the measurement, etc., as object, and intransitive. Cf. to read off 1 at Phrasal verbs. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > measurement > measuring instrument > measure by or as an instrument [verb (transitive)] > measure by means of instruments > note a reading from an instrument to read off1755 read1818 1818 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 1 216 The second thermometer could not be read for want of a fourth assistant. 1857 Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 27 227 I would have been spared the trouble of new soundings..by merely adding to the depth of every partial section such increase..which I read on the scale. 1890 ‘W. A. Wallace’ Only a Sister 88 What's a man worth that cannot read his own watch? 1903 Amer. Anthropologist 5 82 Stature was recorded in centimeters, reading to the nearest unit, and weight in kilograms, reading to tenths. 1955 Calif. Law Rev. 43 718 It was not decided whether the arresting officer must personally read the radar meter. 1991 R. Ludlum Bourne Ultimatum iii. 25 Conklin..looked at his watch, squinting to read the dial. 2006 A. G. van der Valk Biol. Freshwater Wetlands ii. 26 A simple staff gauge that is read periodically by eye. d. transitive. Textiles. To interpret (a design) in terms of the setting up needed to reproduce it on a loom. Also with in. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > [verb (transitive)] > weave > interpret design read1839 1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 267 In both modes of manufacture, the piece is mounted by reading-in the warp for the different leaves of the heddles. 1895 T. F. Bell Jacquard Weaving & Designing i. 9 The straight-edge EE..will slide up and down in the frame, to mark the line on the design paper that is next to be read by the lasher. 1924 T. Woodhouse Jacquards & Harness iv. 107 Before describing the remaining parts of the machine, it will..be best to indicate how the design is read. 1958 A. Hindson Designer's Drawloom xi. 105 The weaver can tie up the pattern single-handed, but it can be done more easily and quickly if there is a helper to read the pattern draft. 1992 A. Field Ashford Bk. Weaving 118/1 Threading Draft. This is also called the draft notation, and is the top, left quadrant of the pattern draft. It is read from right to left. e. transitive. Computing. To copy or extract data that is on or in (a data storage medium or device); to copy or extract (such data); to transfer (data) into, out of, or from an electronic device. Cf. to read in 3 at Phrasal verbs, to read out 4 at Phrasal verbs. ΘΚΠ society > computing and information technology > data > database > use data [verb (transitive)] > store > copy or transfer read1940 to read out1946 copy1953 dump1956 list1958 recall1966 to roll out1969 import1977 upload1977 export1982 1940 W. J. Eckert Punched Card Methods 4 The number are..read into the machines by..electrical contacts made through the holes. 1945 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. 240 277 When the punched tapes are ready, the problem is placed on the machine by automatic controls which ‘read’ the first tape. 1950 High-speed Computing Devices (Engin. Res. Associates) ix. 151 The tape reader automatically reads punched tape..and transcribes the data represented by the holes in the tape to a deck of cards. 1959 E. M. McCormick Digital Computer Primer ix. 135 The tape is then connected into the computer system and the information read from it to the computer. 1964 F. L. Westwater Electronic Computers iv. 59 To read a word out of the store we have to open a gate at the end, and this permits pulses to escape. 1986 S. L. Mandell Working with Applic. Software ii. 32 Data stored on magnetic disks or magnetic drums does not have to be read in order from the beginning. 1993 R. J. Pond Introd. Engin. Technol. (ed. 2) x. 294 The same technology that has put so much quality music on a small disc can also read surprisingly large amounts of data into a computer. 2002 Sci. Amer. Oct. 73/2 The magnetic recording industry uses magnetoresistor elements to read information stored on computer disks. f. transitive. Biology. To interpret or extract genetic information from (a particular nucleic acid sequence), esp. during the process of genetic transcription or translation; to interpret or extract (genetic information). ΚΠ 1957 F. H. C. Crick et al. in Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 43 418 We further assume that all possible sequences of the amino acids may occur (that is, can be coded) and that at every point in the string of letters one can only read ‘sense’ in the correct way.] 1961 Nature 30 Dec. 1227/1 The sequence of the bases is read from a fixed starting point. This determines how the long sequences of bases are to be correctly read off as triplets. 1965 New Scientist 18 Mar. 713/2 An enzyme exists in cells (called ‘RNA polymerase’ or sometimes ‘transcriptase’) which is capable of reading the genic [sic] code. 1988 O. E. Butler Adulthood Rites (1991) i. iv. 24 He would have preferred to investigate further, to understand more of how the genetic information he read had been expressed. 1989 Nature 14 Sept. 166/2 According to the wobble rule, not only CUG but also CUA may be read to specify serine in C[andida] cylindracea. 2005 Daily Tel. 11 Aug. 9/1 The first genetic code of a food crop to be read in detail, the DNA of rice has 400 million genetic letters holding 37,544 genes. g. transitive. Esp. of an electronic or other scanning or detecting device: to extract information from (an object) by acting on it optically, magnetically, chemically, etc.; to extract (information) in this way. Cf. sense 11e. ΚΠ 1962 Proc. Symp. Optical Char. Recognition i. 16 (caption) An example of the actual printed output which optical scanners are required to read. 1967 R. R. Karch & E. J. Buber Graphic Arts Procedures: Offset Processes ii. 20 An optical system ‘reads’ the photograph, and a heated stylus is directed to penetrate the plate to be printed, producing halftone dots. 1979 SLR Camera Jan. 36/3 Like the now discontinued EF the AE-1 uses a silicon photocell to read the light. 1987 S. Brand Media Lab ii. xi. 220 Photographs and slides were read by a laser scanner in minute detail, translated into digital form, and stored in a computer. 1993 Economist 7 Aug. 80/1 Traffic cameras are already being taught to ‘read’ vehicle number plates. h. transitive. To detect (an object) by remote sensing, esp. by sonar. Chiefly Navy slang. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > instrument for detection > of instrument, etc.: detect [verb (transitive)] to pick up1857 sense1896 read1974 1974 L. Deighton Spy Story xviii. 193 A couple of conventional subs steaming a parallel course... We read them on the sonar and ranged them. 1984 T. Clancy Hunt for Red Oct. 356 I can read some plant and steam noises, but not enough for a signature. 1991 M. Joseph Typhoon xx. 145 If they read us at all, they'll think we're part of the ice keel. 12. transitive. To introduce (an idea, element, or meaning) into what is being read or considered, esp. as an erroneous interpretation. Cf. to read in 2 at Phrasal verbs. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > misinterpretation > misinterpret [verb (transitive)] misunderstanda1225 mistake1402 misconstruea1425 miskenc1480 misgloze1532 misinterpret1547 missense1560 wrest1563 misdeem1570 misconceive1586 misconstruct1596 misinfer1597 misconceit1598 misknowa1600 to look beyond1600 lose1600 mismean1605 misprize1609 misread1612 misween1614 misimagine1626 misapprehend1628 construea1640 mislead1654 equivocate1665 misrender1674 misaccept1697 miscomprehend1813 read1879 misperceive1911 1879 H. Spencer Ceremonial Inst. in Princ. Sociol. §346 Men read back developed ideas into undeveloped minds. 1895 Sir A. Kekewich in Law Times Rep. 73 663/1 This is a sensible limitation which can easily be read into deed or will. 1925 E. Fraser & J. Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 223 Where the wording of the Drill Book is vague, units often read different meanings into the phraseology. 1953 J. E. Neale Elizabeth I & her Parliaments I. iv. i. 186 What he had in mind, it is difficult to guess: not as much, we may be sure, as some..read into his words. 1970 R. Johnston Black Camels of Qashran iv. 58 You don't think we're reading too much into this? You don't think that this attack..was once and for all? 2001 C. Coker Humane Warfare iii. 51 Hegel might well have read into the bombing of Hiroshima an example of the cunning of reason. 13. a. intransitive. To receive and understand a message by radio (occasionally, by telephone).In most cases, formed by omission of me from Do you read me? ΘΚΠ society > communication > telecommunication > [verb (intransitive)] > receive read1930 1930 Amer. Speech 5 289 The receiving operator ‘receives’, ‘copies’ or ‘reads’. 1966 D. Francis Flying Finish ii. 26 I said, ‘Port Ellen tower this is Golf Alpha Romeo Kilo November, do you read?’ 1996 P. Godwin Mukiwa (1997) i. 7 ‘Blue nine, blue nine, do you read, over?’ said the voice on the radio. b. transitive. To receive and understand the words of (a person) by radio (occasionally, by telephone). In extended use: to understand the words or intentions of (a person).In both literal and extended use, chiefly used as an acknowledgement in response to a message. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > understanding > understand [verb (transitive)] yknoweOE acknowOE anyeteOE latchc1000 undernimc1000 understandc1000 underyetec1000 afindOE knowOE seeOE onfangc1175 takec1175 underfindc1200 underfonga1300 undertakea1300 kenc1330 gripea1340 comprehend1340 comprendc1374 espyc1374 perceivea1387 to take for ——?1387 catcha1398 conceivea1398 intenda1400 overtakea1400 tenda1400 havec1405 henta1450 comprise1477 skilla1500 brook1548 apprend1567 compass1576 perstanda1577 endue1590 sound1592 engrasp1593 in1603 fathom1611 resent1614 receivea1616 to take up1617 apprehend1631 to take in1646 grasp1680 understumblec1681 forstand1682 savvy1686 overstand1699 uptake1726 nouse1779 twig1815 undercumstand1824 absorb1840 sense1844 undercumstumble1854 seize1855 intelligize1865 dig1935 read1956 the mind > mental capacity > understanding > understand [verb (transitive)] > reach understanding of > words or meaning takec1175 understanda1225 intenda1400 conceive?1526 accept1587 construe1622 to catch a person's drift1821 comprehend1860 to get on to ——1880 read1956 society > communication > telecommunication > [verb (transitive)] > receive > and understand read1956 1956 Amer. Speech 31 228 [U.S.A.F. slang] Do you read me? As in conversation by radio, this means ‘Do you understand me?’. 1960 Master Detective July 83/1 Static-laced code crackle sounded from the speaker. ‘Poelzell. I read you. Keep the Dodge in sight.’ 1967 R. J. Serling President's Plane is Missing (1968) ix. 164 ‘Don't be so oversolicitous, Rod. It's as bad for a marriage as being too inconsiderate. Do you read me?’ ‘I read you, Nancy.’ 2003 L. Hawking Jaded v. 107 If anything suspicious happens, you are to contact Dennis straight away. Do not get involved, do you read me? III. To learn through reading or examination. 14. a. transitive. To see or find (a statement, fact, etc.) in a written or otherwise recorded form; to learn (about) from a book or other document. Frequently with clause as object; formerly sometimes constructed with object and infinitive or participle. ΘΚΠ society > communication > reading > [verb (transitive)] > find or learn by reading readOE findOE seea1325 the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > interpretation > particular interpretation, construction > interpret in particular way [verb (transitive)] > with additional element read1839 OE (Mercian) Rushw. Gospels: Matt. xxi. 42 Quid non legistis in scripturis lapidem quem reprobauerunt aedificantes hic factus est in capud anguli : hwæt uel ah ge næfre reordun in gewritum stan þæm thi wiðcurun timbrade se gewarð in heafod hwommes. OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xii. 3 Ne rædde ge hwæt Dauid dyde þa hyne hingrede? c1175 ( Homily (Bodl. 343) in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 168 We rædeð on bocum þæt þissere weorlde tide stondæþ on six ylde. 1340 Ayenbite (1866) 190 (MED) Me ret ine þe lyue of Ion þe amoner..A riche ientilman wes y-robbed of þieues. c1405 (c1375) G. Chaucer Monk's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 321 Hir batailles, who so list hem for to rede..Lat hym vn to my maister Petrak go. c1475 (?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 7 (MED) Men redun not þat ani of þe apostles grauntid silk indulgencis. 1532 (c1385) Usk's Test. Loue in Wks. G. Chaucer i. f. cccxxx Raddest thou neuer howe Paris of Troye and Heleyne loued togyder? a1575 N. Harpsfield Treat. Divorce Henry VIII (1878) (modernized text) 268 The terrible punishment..the like whereof I never read sent to any. 1661 R. Boyle Some Consider. Style of Script. (1675) 88 We sometimes read him to have Answer'd, without being ask'd the Question. 1664 H. More Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity 206 He has left some Oracular Records wherein a man may read..the State and Condition of the Church. 1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. i. vi. 100 Ingratitude is among them a capital Crime, as we read it to have been in some other Countries. a1771 T. Gray Jemmy Twitcher in Gentleman's Mag. (1782) lii. 40 The prophet of Bethel, we read, told a lie. 1839 H. W. Longfellow Beleaguered City i I have read, in some old marvellous tale,..That a midnight host of spectres pale Beleagured the walls of Prague. 1881 A. Trollope Ayala's Angel III. xlv. 22 Had she not read that angels had come from heaven and taken in marriage the daughters of men? 1920 Amer. Woman Aug. 13/3 (advt.) See what Pepsodent does. Read the reason in the book we send. 1989 V. Tanzer Seagulls hate Parsnips ii. xvii. 111 As they grow, we read, they keep shedding their skins. 2004 Observer 16 May (Mag.) 53/3 We now read that men are to be targeted with a range of pink summer wearables by the high-street fashion chains. b. intransitive. With of. To find mention, record, or discussion of in the course of reading; to learn about by reading; to read about.In quot. a1616, with of omitted. ΘΚΠ society > communication > reading > [verb (transitive)] > read of read?c1225 OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xxiv. 228 We rædað be sumon wife, þe wæs twelf gear geuntrumod.] ?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 178 Of þet oðer me redeð þet he gredde lude to seint bartolomeu. c1300 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Otho) 11337 Her man may reade of Arthur..hou he twalf ȝere suþþe wonede here. 1340 Ayenbite (1866) 50 Be zuych zenne heþ þe dyeuel wel grat miȝte in manne; Huer-of we redeþ ine þe godspelle. c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xiv. 104 (MED) Þough men rede of richchesse riȝt to þe worldes ende, I wist neuere renke þat riche was..þat he ne dred hym sore. c1484 (a1475) J. de Caritate tr. Secreta Secret. (Takamiya) (1977) 120 (MED) Þise chapytyllis serue but for to dyrecte a man in to qwat mater he wul rede of. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 80 Places towarde the south coast, of which neither I have heard of any credible person, nor yet red. 1597 Bp. J. King Lect. Ionas iv. 55 I read of a certaine people in Africke, who being troubled with the North winde,..they gathered an army of men to fight against it. a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) i. ii. 424 Worse then the great'st Infection That ere was heard, or read . View more context for this quotation 1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ v. xxxix. 43 I have read of Caligulas horse that was made Consull. 1707 J. Norris Pract. Treat. Humility iv. 166 In the old creation we read of a void and inform mass. 1789 W. Cowper Annus Memorabilis 3 I read of bright embattled fields. 1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam xciii. 139 I read Of that glad year which once had been. View more context for this quotation 1896 Pall Mall Mag. Nov. 380 Fullblown detectives..the sort you read of in the thrillers! 1958 N. Gordimer World of Strangers xiii. 193 The people..read of strikes, of beer-hall riots. 1973 P. Arnold & C. Davis Hamlyn Bk. World Soccer 124/2 It is strange to read of Brazil being dispatched in the opening rounds of these first two World Cups. 2004 H. Strachan Make a Skyf, Man! viii. 82 I had read of techniques used by the Portuguese security police for the extraction of evidence. 15. figurative and in extended use. a. transitive. To discern or discover (something) in (or on) the face, look, etc., of a person. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (transitive)] > perceive by visual tokens seeOE read1561 the world > action or operation > endeavour > searching or seeking > finding or discovery > find or discover [verb (transitive)] > detect seec1300 perceivec1330 deprehend1523 read1561 wind1583 savour1602 subodorate1606 smoke1608 detect1756 to find out1883 1561 T. Hoby tr. B. Castiglione Courtyer iii. sig. Ll.i^v In their countenance and eyes reade what they haue in the hert. a1586 Sir P. Sidney Astrophel & Stella (1591) 2 In Stellas face I reede, What loue and beauty be. a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) iii. ii. 9 Muffle your false loue..Let not my sister read it in your eye. View more context for this quotation 1684 A. Behn Voy. to Isle of Love 69 in Poems Several Occasions In my languid Face she read my Pain. 1713 J. Addison in Guardian 18 Aug. 1/2 You read his Ancestry in his Smile. 1768 Woman of Honor II. 15 I red in her looks a willingness to come to an explanation. 1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna viii. xvii. 185 I cannot name All that I read of sorrow, toil, and shame, On your worn faces. 1860 Ld. Tennyson Sea Dreams 163 My eyes..Read rascal in the motions of his back. 1925 E. C. Eliot in B. C. Williams O. Henry Prize Stories of 1925 (1926) 177 In her swift glance Evelyn read longing, something unappeased. 1983 J. DeChancie Starrigger xxiii. 252 Perhaps she read the guilt in Darla's face, invisible to me. 2003 K. Kingsbury One Tuesday Morning xxiv. 241 From what he could read in her eyes, she loved him very much, maybe too much. b. transitive. To learn or discover (a fact, truth, etc.) by study, interpretation of signs, etc. In later use merged with sense 2b. ΚΠ 1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost ii. i. 109 Vouchsafe to read the purpose of my comming. View more context for this quotation 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 1011 For proof look up, And read thy Lot in yon celestial Sign. View more context for this quotation a1795 S. Bishop Poet. Wks. (1796) I. 115 The matron's tongue, Whose fertile fancy, by tradition led, In every object, Fate's dark purpose read. 1817 J. Mill Hist. Brit. India I. ii. ii. 111 The highest of the other classes are barely tolerated to read the will of God. 1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre III. ii. 53 It is in the unclouded night-sky..that we read clearest His infinitude. 1864 A. Trollope Can you forgive Her? I. xxxviii. 296 He had read the truth at a glance. 1916 J. Joyce Portrait of Artist ii. 87 As he marched from home to the school, he read his fate in the incidents of the way. IV. To say written words or sentences aloud. 16. a. transitive. To say aloud (the words or sentences of a written text as one scans them); to render (writing) in speech; to recite (a speech, narrative, etc.) from a written text (to a person).Frequently (since the late 17th cent.) to read aloud, to distinguish this from sense 5.In quots. 1621, 1827 intransitive in the progressive with passive meaning. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > speech-making > recitation > recite [verb (transitive)] > read aloud readOE to read overc1380 to read out1534 prone1683 to read upa1691 to read off1808 to call off1846 OE Blickling Homilies 167 We gehyrdon, þa þa Esaias se witga ræden wæs þæt se Halga Gast..þurh hine be Sancte Iohanne cwæþ. OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Exod. (Claud.) xxiv. 7 Moises..rædde his boc þam folce. OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Cambr. Univ. Libr.) v. xix. 470 Mid ðy þæt gewrit ða wæs ræded beforan þam cyninge & monigum gelæredum werum & him geornlice wæs reht on his agen gereorde. lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough interpolation) anno 675 Ða hi wæron þær gegaderod, þa leot he rædon þa gewrite þe seo papa þider seonde. c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 220 Ȝe ancres ahen þis leaste stucche reden to ower wummen euche wike eanes. c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 46 (MED) Ine þe alde laȝe þe redere Rede þe prophessye By wokke. c1400 Brut (Rawl. B. 171) 82 (MED) When þis lettre was rade & alle men hit herde, þai were annoyede. a1450 (c1412) T. Hoccleve De Regimine Principum (Harl. 4866) (1897) 2955 (MED) When þei [sc. laws] weren byfore hem I-radde, Þei made hem wondir wroth. a1475 Sidrak & Bokkus (Lansd.) (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Washington) (1965) 188 (MED) Þei to him þis letter gan rede. 1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes f. 40 When he heard the dialogue of Plato entitleed Lysides, readen. a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) iii. ii. 148 Read the Will, wee'l heare it Antony. View more context for this quotation 1621 in R. F. Williams Birch's Court & Times James I (1848) (modernized text) II. 249 While the proclamation was reading [etc.]. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 213 If we desired it, we might hear the Letter read. 1681 S. Colvil Mock Poem i. 49 Then answered the whole Croud, Bidding him read it out aloud. 1705 London Gaz. No. 4152/2 The Dean and Prebendaries sat within the Rails,..except such as Officiated in Reading Prayers. 1762 T. Sheridan Course Lect. on Elocution 64 I shall now read the text in the two ways, first in the usual manner, and afterwards in what I apprehend to be the right way. 1823 C. Lamb Old & New Schoolmaster in Elia 120 Doomed to read tedious homilies to distasting schoolboys. 1827 J. Bentham Rationale Judicial Evid. II. iii. xiii. 285 Oftentimes have I observed them, while affidavits have been reading, looking about to their brethren on the bench. 1871 Proc. Zool. Soc. 506 Prof. Flower, F.R.S., read a paper on the so-called Risso's Dolphin. 1925 M. Beerbohm Observ. 37 Before you go to sleepy-bye I'll read it to you. 1988 G. McCaughrean Pack of Lies i. 1 She even read a story to a group of toddlers who sat and tore books to pieces at her feet. 2006 S. Townsend Queen Camilla 137 She shuddered when she reflected on the sheer bloody embarrassment of having to read the Queen's Speech. b. transitive. To submit (a proposed measure or bill) for consideration or debate by a council or legislative assembly by a formal recital of all or some part of it; hence, to debate (a bill) submitted in this way. Cf. reading n.¹ 2c.In quot. c1405, used of a plea or petition submitted to a judge. ΘΚΠ society > law > legislation > make (laws) or establish as law [verb (transitive)] > submit or introduce (a measure) readc1405 introduce1817 c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Physician's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 176 Virginius cam to wite the Iuges wille And right anon was rad this cursed bille. 1459 J. Bokkyng in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 187 The parlament as yet abideth vpon the grete materes of atteyndre and forfeture, and soo þere be many and diuerse particuler billes put jnne but noon redde ner touchyng vs. 1542 Acts (1814) II. 415/2 That thare was ane act instantlie red in faice of parliament that the haly write may be vsit in our vulgare toung. 1650 Acts (1877) VI. ii. 588/2 Act..redd voyted and past in parliament. 1656 H. Scobell Memorials i. 5 The first Business in the House is ordinarily to read a Bill that was not passed in the last Parliament preceding. 1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. iii. 179 The Bill was..immediately read the first and the second time, and so Committed. 1783 Hansard Parl. Hist. (1814) XXIII. 1224 [Mr. Fox's East India Bill] was read for the first time, and ordered to be printed. 1843 Sydney Morning Herald 23 Dec. 2/3 The Doubly Convicted Offenders' Bill was read..and passed. 1891 Sat. Rev. 8 Aug. 151/1 They read the Coinage Bill a third time. 1959 Earl Jowitt & C. Walsh Dict. Eng. Law II. 1610/1 The Select Vestries Bill is the title of a Bill always formally read a first time in the House of Lords at the beginning of a new session. 2006 Gold Coast Bull. (Austral.) (Nexis) 10 May 16 This is Treasurer Peter Costello's speech. Mr Speaker I move that the Bill now be read a second time. 17. a. intransitive. To say aloud the words or sentences of a written text (to a person, etc.); to recite a speech, narrative, etc., from a written text. Also with adverbs, as away, on, etc. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > speak [verb (intransitive)] > what one is reading readOE OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Luke iv. 16 Intrauit..in synagogam et surrexit legere et traditus est illi liber prophetae Esaiae : ineade..in somnung & aras to redanne & gesald wæs him boc ðæs witges esaie . c1175 ( in A. O. Belfour 12th Cent. Homilies in MS Bodl. 343 (1909) 56 Þe þe reden cunne, þe ræde; þe þe nan ne cunne, he lyste þam redendan. c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 17286 Eȝȝwhær þær mann rædeþþ þe Off haliȝ witeȝhunnge. c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 47 He toke ysaies bok Ine þe synagoge, and radde. a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Jer. xxxvi. 6 Go in þerfore, þou, & rede of þe volume..herende þe puple. a1450 York Plays (1885) 162 Late se, sirs, in youre sawes Howe right þat ȝe can rede. 1556 in J. G. Nichols Chron. Grey Friars (1852) 56 Cardmaker, that rede in Powlles iij. tymes a weke. a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) iii. i. 319 That fault may be mended with a breakfast: read on. View more context for this quotation 1677 J. Evelyn Diary 18 Sept. in Mem. (1819) 493 My Lord Chamberlaine..wanted a scholar to reade to & entertaine him sometimes. 1718 Free-thinker No. 7. 2 The Bridegroom..deposited one Moiety; and the Doctor read away. 1787 R. Burns Poems (new ed.) 148 Has..R******* again grown weel, To preach an' read? 1847 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) xiv. 131 ‘It may be generally observed of Dombey,’ said Miss Blimber, reading in a loud voice, [etc.]. 1879 M. Pattison Milton 150 Then he went up to his study to be read to till six. 1928 D. H. Lawrence Lady Chatterley's Lover x. 163 ‘Shall we play a game, or shall I read to you, or what shall it be?’ he asked uneasily. 1996 F. McCourt Angela's Ashes (1997) vii. 196 Mrs. Minihan that's supposed to read to me didn't come. 2006 C. Frazier Thirteen Moons iv. vi. 354 I would read aloud to the Indians, translating on the fly, and they enjoyed those old tales immensely. b. intransitive. Scottish. Of a minister: to read sermons, instead of preaching extempore or from memory. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > speech-making > recitation > recite [verb (intransitive)] > read aloud > merely read1781 1781 Reading not preaching ii. 6 To read, and not preach, is to deny the Spirit his office. 1888 J. M. Barrie Auld Licht Idylls iii To follow a pastor who ‘read’ seemed to the Auld Lichts like claiming heaven on false pretences. c. intransitive. Of an actor: to audition (for); to rehearse for a role. Cf. to read in 4 at Phrasal verbs. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > acting > act [verb (transitive)] > audition or rehearse for (a part) read1943 1943 S. Lewis Gideon Planish 71 ‘And will you read for it?’.. ‘You mean try and see if I can act one of the parts?’ ‘Professionally, we call it “read for a part”.’ 1966 A. E. Lindop I start Counting ii. 44 She'd had a letter..asking her to report to the Jubilee Hall, where she was to read for the Amateur Dramatic Society. 2005 B. J. Shaver Honky Tonk Hero 58 He called in the mid-1990s and asked me to read for a part in a movie he was making. †18. a. transitive. To teach or impart (something, esp. an academic subject) to (in early use also into) another by (or as by) reading aloud. Also with with, or without construction. Obsolete.In Old English with dative of person. ΘΚΠ society > education > teaching > [verb (transitive)] > teach orally or lecture readOE catechize1623 lecture1681 OE Wulfstan 1st Sunday in Lent (Hatton 113) 235 Swa sceal eac of cyrican myrhðe for myclum gewyrhtum se man gebugan sume hwile þe healice agylte on openlicre synne, oð þæt he gebete mid myclum geswince, swa swa him tæce se ðe him ræde his godcundan þearfe. a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 133 (MED) Ure helend saweð his halie word..hwile þurh ðere clerkene muðe, þe cunnen þe lare of halie boke, þe radeð and techeð godes laȝe in to þes monnes heorte. c1300 St. Edmund Rich (Harl.) l. 225 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary (1956) 500 (MED) To arsmetrike he drouȝ & arsmetrike radde in cours in Oxenford. ?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1876) VI. 293 (MED) This clerke Albuinus..departede from kynge Charls..to whom he hade redde [L. docuit] logike, rethoryke, and astronomye. 1560 J. Knox et al. Buke Discipline in J. Knox Wks. (1848) II. 210 A Colledge, in whiche the Artis..be read be sufficient Maisteris. 1602 B. Jonson Poetaster i. iii. sig. B4^v We may read Constancy and Fortitude, To other soules. View more context for this quotation a1637 B. Jonson Sad Shepherd ii. v. 30 in Wks. (1640) III Are these the Arts Robin, you read your rude ones o'the wood? View more context for this quotation 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 215 He understood Astrology, and read Euclid to some of his Disciples. 1774 T. Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry I. Diss. ii. sig. i4 The professors of grammar are directed to read to their pupils De Historiis Alexandri, among which I include Gualtier's poem. 1792 A. Kippis Life of Dr. Doddridge in P. Doddridge Family Expositor (ed. 7) I. p. clix The system of Algebra which he read to his pupils was of his own composition. 1885 A. Edwardes Girton Girl I. iii. 68 Geoffrey Arbuthnot, B.A. Cantab., is willing to read classics and mathematics with Miss Bartrand. Terms, five shillings an hour. b. intransitive. To give instruction by means of reading aloud; to lecture or discourse of or upon a subject. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > education > teaching > [verb (intransitive)] > lecture or discourse readc1300 instruct1510 lecturea1592 prelect1745 c1300 St. Edmund Rich (Laud) 521 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 446 Ȝif þou me drifst out of þi lond..Ich can rede at parys..And þare-with winne me mete i-novȝ. c1300 St. Edmund Rich (Harl.) l. 222 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary (1956) 499 (MED) So wel lurnede þis holi man..Þat he bigan at Oxenford & of art þer radde. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 13879 He [sc. Jesus] began þaim..For to redde [a1400 Trin. Cambr. preche] and to sermon [a1400 Fairf. rede a gode sarmoun]. a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) 7691 I am licenced boldely To Reden in Diuinite And longe haue red. a1500 Ratis Raving (Cambr. Kk.1.5) l. 143 in R. Girvan Ratis Raving & Other Early Scots Poems (1939) 5 To ler sciens that master redis. 1576 A. Fleming tr. Erasmus in Panoplie Epist. 341 In that College it was his happie lucke, to reade in the open schooles in Latine. 1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 iii. i. 44 Where is he liuing..Which cals me pupil or hath read to me. View more context for this quotation 1618 G. Strode Anat. Mortalitie 1 The Statute which I haue chosen to reade vpon. 1691–2 A. Wood Life 6 Jan. (1894) III The Master of Pembroke College suffers him to read to Scholars of his house. 1708 J. Collier Second Def. Short View Eng. Stage 434 To read upon a putrified Carcass, and shew Nature, to the Affront of Religion. 1786 Gentleman's Mag. Mar. 262/1 Each professor is to read two hours in each week. 1853 C. M. Yonge Heir of Redclyffe I. iv. 57 Philip should see whether Mr. Lascelles, a curate.., would read with Guy a few hours in every week. 1891 Daily News 26 Sept. 7/5 A Cambridge honoursman will..read with pupils. c. transitive. To teach or give (a person) a knowledge of (something). Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > education > teaching > [verb (transitive)] i-taechec888 lerec900 iwisseOE to teach a personc1000 wisc1000 ylereOE avayc1315 readc1330 learna1382 informc1384 beteacha1400 form1399 kena1400 redec1400 indoctrinea1450 instructc1449 ensign1474 doctrine1475 introduct1481 lettera1500 endoctrinec1500 to have (a person) in schooling?1553 lesson1555 tutor1592 orthographize1596 pupil1599 con1612 indoctrinate1621 art1628 doctrinate1631 document1648 verse1672 documentizea1734 form1770 intuit1776 skill1809 indoctrinize1861 c1330 (?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Auch.) l. 170 Gij a forster fader hadde, Þat him lerd & him radde Of wodes & riuer & oþer game. d. transitive (in passive). Of a pupil: to be instructed or become learned in a subject. Cf. read adj. 1a. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ society > education > [verb (intransitive)] read?1458 study1569 educationize1835 ?1458 H. Windsor in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 175 William hath goon to scole..to lern and to be red in poetre or els in Frensh. †19. a. transitive. To declare, relate, or say, by or as by reading aloud. Obsolete (archaic in later use). ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > narration > narrate, relate, or tell [verb (transitive)] singc900 reckonOE readOE tellOE showc1175 betellc1275 i-tellec1275 rehearsec1300 record1340 accounta1387 to chase forthc1386 retretec1400 reporta1402 count?a1425 recite1448 touch?a1450 repeat1451 deliverc1454 explikec1454 renderc1460 recount1477 to show forth1498 relate1530 to set forth1530 rechec1540 reaccount1561 recitate1568 history1600 recant1603 to run througha1616 enarrate1750 narrate1754 the mind > language > statement > state or declare [verb (transitive)] > as by reading aloud readOE OE Homily (Hatton 114) in J. Bazire & J. E. Cross Eleven Old Eng. Rogationtide Homilies (1989) 122 Gyf þonne þa englas geseoð þæt seo sawl bið heora geferscypes wyrðe, hi þonne onginnað secgan and rædan swyðe freondlice eall þa god þe heo æfre fram frymðe hyre lifes oð hire daga ende gefremede, and heo hit eall on heora bocum awriten habbað. c1390 Castle of Love (Vernon) (1967) 1361 (MED) No tonge ne mihte reden..his mihtful deden. c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. iii. 14 (MED) Hure robe was ryccher þan ich rede couthe. a1500 (?a1475) Guy of Warwick (Cambr. Ff.2.38) 313 (MED) That schall to me grete worschyp be Yf any man may synge or rede That y was for þe done to dede. c1540 (?a1400) Destr. Troy 12579 Þan Palomydon..put was to dethe With the birre of his bow, as I aboue rede. 1591 E. Spenser Prosopopoia in Complaints 604 But read, faire Sir, of grace, from whence come yee. 1840 R. H. Barham Witches' Frolic in Ingoldsby Legends 1st Ser. 161 I'll rede ye a lay of Grammarye. b. transitive. To speak of or mention; to describe; to name or call. Obsolete (archaic in later use). ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > speak, say, or utter [verb (transitive)] > mention or speak of to speak of ——c825 sayOE besayc1200 talk ofc1230 to make mention ofc1300 readc1300 yminnea1325 nevenc1330 to make mindc1350 toucha1375 famea1400 minta1400 clepec1400 rehearsec1405 recitec1436 reckonc1480 mentionatec1525 mention1530 to speak upon ——1535 name1542 repeatc1550 voice1597 commemorate1599 to speak on ——1600 notice1611 quote1612 to make vent ofa1616 memorate1623 mensh1928 the mind > language > speech > narration > description or act of describing > describe [verb (transitive)] sayOE devisec1300 readc1300 to make (a) showing ofc1330 counterfeitc1369 expressc1386 scrievec1390 descrya1400 scrya1400 drawa1413 representc1425 describec1450 report1460 qualify?1465 exhibit1534 perscribe1538 to set out1545 deline1566 delineate1566 decipher1567 denotate1599 lineate16.. denote1612 givea1616 inform?1615 to shape out1633 speaka1637 display1726 to hit off1737 the mind > language > naming > give a name to [verb (transitive)] > call or give as name to > designate or style as sayOE calla1250 deemc1400 nevenc1425 qualify?1465 designa1500 expound1530 style1570 read1590 intenda1599 dub1607 instyle1607 phrase1607 enstyle1616 speaka1625 cognominate1632 determine1653 clapa1657 designate1669 intimate1799 nominate1799 bedub1884 tab1924 c1300 (?c1225) King Horn (Laud) (1901) 1395 (MED) Þe Joie þat he made Myȝte no man rede. a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 10800 Ȝe men..þat haue herd me rede þys sacrament, how ouer alle þyng hyt haþ powere. ?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) i. l. 14465 [I]n þat tyme þat I now rede, þe date was, [etc.]. c1450 (?a1400) T. Chestre Sir Launfal (1930) 299 (MED) May no man rede here atyre. 1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. vii. sig. G4^v Whose kingdomes seat Cleopolis is red. a1625 J. Fletcher Valentinian iii. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Bbbbbbb2/1 Good men [will] raze thee For ever being read again but vicious. 1840 R. H. Barham Lay St. Nicholas in Ingoldsby Legends 1st Ser. 267 Now rede me aright the most wonderful sight, Thou Palmer grey, that thine eyes have seen. c. intransitive. To speak, tell, or give an account of. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > speak [verb (intransitive)] > speak of or mention sayOE showa1200 monec1225 roundc1275 specifya1300 sermon1303 nevenc1330 readc1330 reckonc1390 to make meaninga1400 rehearsec1405 express1430 remember1531 mention1559 c1330 (?c1300) Speculum Guy (Auch.) (1898) 167 (MED) Ac nu i wole speke and rede Of hem, þat i erere seide þat þurw here pride and here wil Þeih fallen ofte in gret peril. a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 6303 (MED) Of þre executurs y shal ȝou rede how þey halpe ones a soule yn nede. c1430 (c1380) G. Chaucer Parl. Fowls 516 Bet is that a wyghtes tonge reste Than entermeten hym of such doinge, Of which he neyther rede can ne synge. 1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) x. 276 I think of hym to reid And till schaw part of his gud deid. a1530 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Royal) ii. (heading) Or I forthire nowe procede, Off the Genealogi will I rede. 1570 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Lekprevik) vi. 72 Heirof as now, I will na mair proceid..Of vther thing my purpois is to reid. V. With a person as object. 20. transitive. To bring (a person) into a certain state (esp. sleep) by reading. Frequently reflexive. ΚΠ 1596 J. Harington Apol. sig. Piij You know the booke well enough, I read you a sleep in it once or twise as we went from Greenewitch to Westminster. 1616 B. Jonson Epicœne iv. iv, in Wks. I. 574 Euery night they read themselues asleepe on those bookes. View more context for this quotation 1676 W. Wycherley Plain-dealer iii. i We shall have you read yourself into a Humour of rambling and fighting. 1744 Antiquary ii. in Select Coll. Old Plays VII. 148 I..Read you asleep i' th' afternoon with pamphlets. 1823 I. D'Israeli Curiosities of Lit. 2nd Ser. III. 336 Good men, who read themselves in and out of their vacillating creed. 1861 C. Dickens Great Expectations I. iv. 48 If you could only give him his head, he would read the clergyman to fits. 1873 W. Black Princess of Thule xxi. 345 Give me that book, that I may read myself into a nap. 1925 W. J. Bryan Memoirs i. xii. 194 Often after she had..read him to sleep, she would lead me to the room that I might admire our young hopeful. 1991 Omni Mar. 108/1 Compulsive literacy disorder.., a disease that compels people to read themselves to death. 2001 Church Times 15 June 15/2 I read myself to sleep.., wearing one of those daffy wonderful head-torches. 21. transitive. slang (originally and chiefly U.S.). To upbraid, berate, or reprimand. Chiefly with off. ΚΠ 1911 Weekly Courier (Connellsville, Pa.) 26 Jan. 6/2 Shields..read them off systematically,..telling the attorneys the kind of men he thinks they are. 1949 Jrnl. Amer. Folklore 62 175 He rushed over to the swabbie and started reading him off. 1973 ‘D. Ellington’ Music my Mistress 291 Oh, man, she read him, as I've never heard anyone read Tom Whaley before or since. 1999 E. D. Hoagland Sea Hawks i. 8 An ensign instructing officer..came over and read me off in front of the company. He was savage in his remarks. VI. With the text or thing that is scanned or read as subject. 22. a. intransitive. To be readable; to be pleasing to read; to make clear sense when read. Now rare. ΘΚΠ society > communication > reading > [verb (intransitive)] > bear reading read1668 1668 T. Shadwell Sullen Lovers iii. 34 'Tis a Play that shall Read and Act with any Play that ever was born. 1727 D. Defoe Hist. Apparitions (1840) 340 The book will read without it. 1887 A. Birrell Obiter Dicta 2nd Ser. viii. 260 When the dish is served, we only ask, Is it good?..when the book comes out, Does it read? 1931 Notes & Queries 17 Oct. 287/2 The translation is oddly unequal. It is often conspicuously clear and vigorous; sometimes it is halting and dull; occasionally, it does not ‘read’. b. intransitive. To have a specified character or quality when read; to produce a certain impression on readers; to give rise to a particular interpretation. ΘΚΠ society > communication > reading > [verb (intransitive)] > produce specific impression when read read1731 1731 Gentleman's Mag. 1 21/2 Thy comedies excell..And read politely well. 1789 T. Twining tr. Aristotle Treat. Poetry 168 Whose productions..read better than they act. 1805 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. 3 231 This pamphlet is so pious as to read more like a sermon than a political address. 1828 Examiner 84/2 Nothing can read more free and easy than his present translation. 1863 J. Kavanagh Eng. Women of Lett. I. 187 There are lives that read like one long sorrow. 1928 P. Monroe China v. 123 The story of the East India Company in India does not read very differently from the account of the conquest of the American ‘savages’. 1956 H. L. Mencken Minority Rep. 18 All fiction save the occasional work of genius reads much alike, and is couched in the same time-worn phrases. 1996 W. A. Cohen Sex Scandal ii. 69 The novel reads as conventional romance. 2006 Time Out N.Y. 7 Sept. 159/1 Danielewski's newest offering reads like a love story that slipped into a particle accelerator. c. intransitive. Of a language, piece of text, etc.: to admit of or require reading in a particular direction or sequence; to be understood by reading in a particular order. ΚΠ 1801 Monthly Mag. Feb. 49/1 The copy is composed as usual, only it is not inverted,..and reads from left to right; as when printed. 1851 Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. 2 59 The Japanese language is written in columns like the Chinese, Manchu and Corean, and reads from right to left. 1880 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 1878–80 18 509 The numbers read from left to right on the first and third lines and from right to left on the second and fourth. 1947 E. Blom Everyman's Dict. Music 430/1 Palindrome, a word or poem reading the same backwards as forwards. 1993 Burlington Mag. Sept. 620/2 Banker's reconstruction follows the order listed in the scriptia, and reads vertically from top to bottom. d. intransitive. To be able to be interpreted (in a particular way). ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > interpretation > interpret [verb (intransitive)] > admit of read1866 1866 J. Martineau Ess. Philos. & Theol. 1st Ser. 28 This rule reads both ways. 1900 M. Hewlett Life & Death Richard Yea-and-Nay ii. vii. 299 It might seem that he had or had not [sc. seen a mother before]: his action reads either way. 2007 R. Paulson Sin & Evil 116 The imagery reads both ways. 23. Of a measuring instrument or its scale. a. intransitive. To indicate a measurement; to be calibrated so as to give readings of a specified kind. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > measurement > measuring instrument > [verb (intransitive)] > have graduated scale of specific kind read1846 1846 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 9 330 The vertical or dip circle is eight inches in diameter, divided..to read to fifteen minutes of arc. 1862 Internat. Exhib.: Illustr. Catal. Industr. Dept. II. xiii. §2941 Standard barometer on Fortin's principle, reading from an ivory zero point in the cistern. 1928 Times 24 Apr. 10/5 These [non-standard tires] made the speedometer read about 5 per cent. fast. 1935 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 47 155 The dial has 100 scale divisions and thus reads directly in units of 1 σ. 1986 F. Guillou & C. Gray in A. Limon et al. Home Owner Man. (ed. 2) v. vii. 803 The ‘Megger’ has a scale that reads in thousands of ohms. 2002 J. White Care & Repair of Shop Machines i. 8 The dial indicator..reads in 0.001-in. increments. b. transitive. To register or indicate (a measurement); to be calibrated or set according to (a particular scale or unit of measurement). ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > measurement > measuring instrument > measure by or as an instrument [verb (transitive)] > register or indicate a certain measurement mark1820 read1862 give1890 1862 Times 10 Sept. 10/3 The temperature of the air fell to 26½ deg., and the wet-bulb thermometer read the same. 1886 L. Cumming Electr. treated Experimentally (1887) 44 A rider reading thousands of an ounce on the beam of a grocer's balance. 1930 Proc. IRE 18 832 The barometric altimeter is adjusted to read altitude above the [landing] field. 1958 Science 7 Nov. 1160/3 Digital instrument reads d-c volts in four ranges from 0.001 to 999 v. 1986 F. Guillou & C. Gray in A. Limon et al. Home Owner Man. (ed. 2) v. vii. 801 The universal test meter is a device whereby a single scale can read volts, amperes and ohms. 1997 C. Barker in D. E. Winter Revelations 43 Slater looked. The barometer read 28.55. 24. transitive. Of a sign, notice, letter, etc.: to bear (a specified inscription). Usually with written text as object. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > meaning of linguistic unit > convey meaning [verb (intransitive)] soundc1374 hight1579 breathe1697 read1891 1858 Indiana School Jrnl. 3 282 The people laughed at the juxtaposition of the names..and the lawyers therefore resolved to have the sign read Isaac Catchem and Uriah Chetum. 1891 F. H. Williams Atman v. 270 The letter reads as follows. 1904 G. Parker Ladder of Swords xvi. 229 A footman..came to Angèle, bearing a note which read: ‘Your friend is very ill, and asks for you.’ 1946 Bible (Rev. Standard) Mark xv. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, ‘The King of the Jews.’ 1978 P. D. Wellstone How Rural Poor got Power iii. 78 The Northfield News headline read: ‘Group Questions Area Board’. 2002 Observer 27 Oct. i. 20/7 There is no point driving around it looking for a sign reading ‘City Centre’, because there isn't one. Phrases †P1. to read and sing: to read prayers or scripture and sing hymns in a church service. Obsolete.Occasionally with order reversed, as to sing and read. ΚΠ OE tr. Chrodegang of Metz Regula Canonicorum (Corpus Cambr. 191) xlix. 269 (heading) Be þam þe on cyrcan sceolon rædan and singan. a1300 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 114 (MED) Hit bilimpeð forte speke, to reden, & to singe Of him. c1300 St. Cuthbert (Laud) 95 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 362 (MED) With oþure he ȝeode to matynes, ȝeorne he song and radde. a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 8017 Y haue ȝow prestes þre Þat for me mow rede ande synge. a1450 Pater Noster Richard Ermyte (Westm. Sch. 3) (1967) 3 (MED) Þoo wymmen þat beþ religious..þei kun rede & synge & here preier make. a1500 Rule Minoresses in W. W. Seton Two 15th Cent. Franciscan Rules (1914) 85 (MED) Þe sustres whoche canne rede & singe schal do þe office reuerentli. a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 182 All clergy, do to him inclyne..Ensence his altar, reid and sing In haly kirk. P2. to read a lesson or lecture: to teach a lesson or give a lecture to a class, congregation, etc., for the purpose of instruction; (figurative) to administer a reprimand or check.In literal sense not always implying the actual reading aloud of a written text, but usually indicating that the lesson or lecture follows a prepared, received, or doctrinal model. ΚΠ OE Confessionale Pseudo-Egberti (Junius) 189 Swa hwylc swa wile æt mæssetidum lectiones rædun oððe responsoria singan, [etc.].] ?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 54 Al þe lecun þe god hefde ired [c1230 Corpus Cambr. ired, a1235 Nero ilered] hire. 1340 Ayenbite (1866) 56 (MED) Zuyche byeþ þe miracles þet þe dyeuel makeþ, And huet lessouns þer [sc. in the tavern] he ret; alle uelþe he tekþ þer. c1475 Gregory's Chron. in J. Gairdner Hist. Coll. Citizen London (1876) 230 Docter Ive..radde many fulle nobylle lessonnys to preve that Cryste was lorde of alle. 1575 G. Gascoigne Glasse of Gouernem. i. v. sig. Cii^v If my iudgement do not fayle me, I may chaunce to read some of them another lecture. 1608 W. Shakespeare Richard II iv. i. 222 Would it not shame thee in so faire a troope, To read a lecture of them. 1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ iv. ix. 11 His Wife falling to read him a lowd lesson. 1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure II. 92 Mrs. Cole..proceeded to read me such admirable lessons on the œconomy of my person and my purse. 1817 J. Mill Hist. Brit. India II. iv. iv. 157 Dreadful was the fate..and important are the lessons which it reads. 1915 T. Dixon Foolish Virgin ii. 19 She read him a lecture on honesty that discouraged him. 1994 A. Smith Canada—An Amer. Nation? iv. 77 Some of Moffett's fellow Americans might have read him a lesson in what gave Canada its capacity to endure. †P3. to read right: to have or take a correct view; to be right in one's ideas or expectations. Obsolete.Perhaps originally related to senses 1, 2 above. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > freedom from error, correctness > be right [verb (intransitive)] to reckon righta1400 to read right?a1425 to get, have, or take the (or a) wrong (or right) sow by the ear1546 to get (also have) something right1565 to have the right scope of1570 ?a1425 (a1400) Awntyrs Arthure (Lamb.) 525 (MED) I shal rewarde þe þi route, if I cone rede righte. 1508 W. Dunbar Goldyn Targe (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems (1998) I. 192 O reuerend Chaucere,..quho redis rycht, Thou beris of makaris the tryumph riall. 1636 A. Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae (new ed.) 1191 Gif yee read right, it was not I. †P4. to read on one side of the leaf: to consider or appreciate only one side of the question. Obsolete. ΚΠ c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 204 Syndry folk redis apon a syde of the lef, and nocht on the tothir. P5. to read and (or or) write: to be generally literate; to have the basic skills of literacy. Usually const. with to be able, to learn, to teach, etc.Occasionally with order reversed, as to write and read. ΚΠ 1490 W. Caxton tr. Eneydos xxii. 84 Cadynus inventour of the first lettres lerned the folke to rede and to write. 1567 Compend. Bk. Godly Songs (1897) 196 Preistis, reid and wryte, And ȝour fals Cannowne law lat be. 1627 Rep. Parishes Scotl. (1835) 22 Theire is ane greit necessatie of ane skule for not ane of the paroche can reid nor wryt. 1738 A. Pope One Thousand Seven Hundred & Thirty Eight Dialogue II 12 Chartres scarce could write or read. 1796 H. Hunter tr. J.-H. B. de Saint-Pierre Stud. Nature (1799) III. 154 I applied myself night and day to the means of learning how to read and write. 1856 J. Aiton Clerical Econ. (ed. 2) 317 An English nursery governess,..to learn them to read and write. 1940 L. MacNeice Last Ditch 25 He was not able to read or write, He did odd jobs..Cutting the hedge or hoeing the drive. 1993 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 4 Nov. 30/1 During the summer, the young boy and his sister helped the peasants compose letters, tried to teach them to read and write. P6. to read (someone or something) like a book: see to read (also know) like a book at book n. Phrases 2m. P7. a. to read lips: to lip-read; to be able to lip-read (cf. lip-read vb. at lip n. Compounds 2). Also (esp. in early use) intransitive, in to read from (also on, upon) the lips. ΚΠ 1834 N. Amer. Rev. Apr. 341 Is it desirable, that the deaf and dumb pupil should be taught to speak, and to read upon the lips? 1844 H. Mann 7th Ann. Rep. Secretary Board of Educ. in Mass. 32 A girl whose facility in reading from the lips was so remarkable, that she could read at a great distance. 1884 in J. C. Gordon Educ. of Deaf (1892) p. xxxiv Most of them can read lips readily. 1950 E. H. Nitchie New Lessons in Lip Reading ii. 35 Even an expert lip reader cannot possibly read lips that do not move. 2001 W. C. Stokoe Lang. in Hand iv. 53 They insisted that clear speech..could be read on the lips with facility. 2003 Newsweek 24 Feb. 16/1 We talked to..other parents of deaf children to figure out whether we should raise Julia as an oralist—someone who uses hearing aids and reads lips—or a signer. b. to read (a person's) lips: to understand (a person who is speaking) by lip-reading. ΚΠ 1887 Proc. 11th Convent. Amer. Instructors of Deaf 236 I will go around the class..never looking at the children, because I might read their lips. 1916 E. W. Sargent Technique of Photoplay (ed. 3) lv. 271 The real murderers come to watch the trial and by reading their lips the secretary is enabled to free her sweetheart. 2001 Kenyon Rev. Winter 164 Fans with opera glasses could actually read his lips: ‘Odette! Don't go!’ c. colloquial (originally North American). In imperative. read my lips: ‘pay attention’, ‘listen carefully’, ‘take me at my word’ (used for emphasis or to express earnestness of intent).In later use often associated with George H. W. Bush, U.S. President (1989–93), who used the phrase in his speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention: see quot. 1988. ΚΠ 1957 J. Greene (title of song) Read my lips. 1982 Mountain Democrat-Times (Placerville, Calif.) 27 Dec. a5/2 Hey, parents! read my lips!.. Have I got a product for you. 1988 N.Y. Times Mag. 4 Sept. 22 ‘Congress will push me to raise taxes,’ George Bush told the whooping Republican delegates.., ‘and I'll say no.., “Read my lips: no new taxes”.’ 1993 M. Atwood Robber Bride lii. 423 Give him up. Forget about him... Read my lips, he wasn't worth it. 2004 Guardian (Nexis) 24 Mar. (Features) 6 No way, read my lips, there is no way I'm going to sign this. P8. to read between the lines: see line n.² 23a. P9. to take (something) as read: to treat (a statement, a subject, etc.) as if it has been agreed, without having a discussion about it; to take for granted. Occasionally with other introductory verbs. ΚΠ 1811 Times 22 May 3/2 Petitions..with signatures to the amount of more than ten thousand names, all of which were taken as read, and ordered to lie on the table. 1863 Bankers' Mag. Apr. 263 Gentlemen, I presume that..we may regard the report of the directors to be taken as read. 1886 G. M. Hopkins Lett. to R. Bridges (1955) 244 Objections on your part, if any, are now too late and will be ‘taken as read’. 1928 D. L. Sayers Unpleasantness at Bellona Club iii. 22 Don't let's harrow our feelings. Take it as read. 1938 M. Allingham Fashion in Shrouds xxi. 397 I think we can almost take that as read, don't you? 1973 H. Miller Open City xvii. 187 You can regard your complaint of boorishness..as read. 1996 Independent 10 May ii. 4/3 I think because I was a man people kind of took it as read that I wasn't planning to stay a secretary for long. P10. transitive (in imperative). colloquial (originally U.S. Gambling). read 'em and weep and variants: used to express smugness or satisfaction at triumph over one's opponents when displaying a winning hand of cards or roll of the dice. Frequently in extended use. ΚΠ 1916 Washington Post 19 Nov. 5/1 The men bending over the tables are heard to utter these..words:..‘Baby needs a new pair of shoes!’..‘Read 'em and weep!’ 1941 Los Angeles Times 12 June ii. 4/5 ‘Traffic takes lives of six’. Read 'em and weep, Hitler. If..Californians can do that with pleasure cars think what they could do with tanks. 1978 A. Baraka Motion of Hist. & Other Plays 35 Read em and weep, fellas..full house..jacks over twos. Hahahaha. 2000 Time 18 Sept. 44/2 This is the year in which dotcoms turned into dotbombs. Read your high-tech stock portfolio and weep. 2003 Evening Times (Glasgow) (Nexis) 16 Aug. 30 As the unlucky gambler is told when he sits beside the green baize poker table: ‘Read them and weep.’ P11. slang. to read one's shirt: to examine one's clothing for vermin. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > pest control > remove vermin [verb (intransitive)] > exterminate insects > remove lice > search for lice to read one's shirt1918 1918 National Geographic Mag. June 499 They..speak of ‘reading their shirts’. 1931 ‘D. Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route xiii. 144 It is said, for instance, that the hobo spends a great deal of his time reading his shirt, seeking certain animals known as ‘seam squirrels’. 1951 J. P. Marquand Melville Goodwin, USA xxv. 388 There's something itching and I'd better read my shirt a while. 1978 J. L. McWilliams & R. J. Steel Suicide Battalion iii. 31 Soon everyone had the telltale itch, and all ranks began ‘reading their shirts’. P12. Australian and New Zealand colloquial. you wouldn't read about it: it is scarcely credible (used as an exclamation of disbelief or disgust). ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > disbelief, incredulity > expressing disbelief [phrase] do you mean to say (also to tell me)1763 you don't mean to say (also to tell me)1763 tell that to the marines1806 in a horn1847 you are (or have got to be) joking1907 tie that bull outside or to another ashcan1921 you could have fooled me1926 you wouldn't read about it1950 pull the other one (it's got bells on)1966 the mind > emotion > hatred > dislike > disgust > exclamation of disgust [interjection] foȝa1250 fie1297 faugh1542 ough1565 pah1592 pish1592 phah1593 paw1640 poh1650 sis1862 gick1905 ptui1930 stone (or stiffen) the crows1930 you wouldn't read about it1950 yeuch1964 barf1966 yuck1966 ick1967 yech1969 1950 J. Cleary Just let me Be xiv. 135 Four certs I had, and the bludgers were so far back the ambulance nearly had to bring 'em home. You wouldn't read about it. 1973 H. Williams My Love had Black Speed Stripe x. 69 You wouldn't read about it. A bloke his missus reckons was a doctor of philosophy, whatever that was, and just about the biggest dill you could meet. 2003 P. Scott Gay Resort Murder Shock 42 We had one girl—you wouldn't read about it—she didn't like the cleaners' uniform! Sorry, but she only wears purple! P13. to read the room: to be alert and responsive to the mood or behaviour of the audience one is addressing; (more generally) to remain attentive and astute in one's interactions with others. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > evaluation, estimation, appraisal > appraise, estimate [verb (transitive)] > take the measure of measure?a1425 gauge1583 to sum up1631 measure1684 to touch off1766 to take (also get) the measure of1790 to get (also take, etc.) a person's number1853 reckon1853 to put up1864 size1884 to weigh up1894 to read the room1975 1975 Oakland (Calif.) Post 23 Mar. 4 In another question I asked, has any audience or person felt insulted by your comments, he said no because you read the room when you first bring the group together by asking where they are from this has a way of relaxing everybody and removes the sensitivity. 1995 N.Y. Times 23 Apr. (Money & Business section) 11/3 You can detect chandelier [sc. fake] bids by watching closely... The more auctions you attend, the better you will be at reading the room. 2019 L. Post Higher Etiquette iv. 61 Even once you have established household norms, it never hurts to double-check. A simple ‘Are you cool with this?’ or ‘Want me to open a window?’ will suffice... Read the room—even when it's just the two of you. Phrasal verbs With adverbs in specialized senses. to read down Law (originally Australian). transitive. Law (originally Australian). Of a judicial authority: to interpret (a law, contract, etc.) narrowly so as to ensure it is constitutional or consistent with superior laws. ΚΠ 1915 Commonw. Law Rep.: High Court Austral. 20 96 An Act of New South Wales unlimited in literal terms was read down to territorial limits. 1934 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 24 Nov. 19/5 If the section was read down as they held it should be, or was cut down.., then the foreign company assessed under it was in no worse position. 1980 Times of India 2 Aug. 9/5 The court rejected the plea of the attorney general for reading down article 31 C so as to conform with the ratio. 1990 Univ. Toronto Law Jrnl. 40 4 The court is reluctant to save such legislation [sc. that appears to violate the Charter] by reading it down or otherwise rewriting it. 2017 T. T. Arvind Contract Law xiii. 378 Courts should not resort to strained constructions for the sake of reading down an exclusion clause. to read in 1. a. transitive (reflexive). To admit oneself into office as incumbent of a benefice in the Church of England by reading publicly the Thirty-nine Articles and making the Declaration of Assent. Also intransitive. Now historical. ΘΚΠ society > faith > worship > sacrament > order > induction > induct [verb (intransitive)] > read 39 articles to read in1800 1800 W. Holland Diary in Paupers & Pig Killers (1984) 28 I went over to Asholt with him to induct him a second time into the Living... Mr John Brice called before he went to Asholt to read in. 1821 E. H. MacLeod Tales of Ton 2nd Ser. III. 306 He..heard young Mr. Pycraft read himself in. 1857 A. Trollope Barchester Towers xxiii. (heading) Mr. Arabin reads himself in at St. Ewolds. 1904 9th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (rev. ed.) App. iii. I. 212 The Rev. Peter Hitchington..had to read himself in and could not attend the musters. 1999 N. Yates Anglican Ritualism in Victorian Brit. v. 262 When his duly appointed successor..‘read himself in’ on 11 March it was ‘amidst the groans and hisses of a large and excited mob’. b. transitive. To admit, esp. into one of the armed services, by reading a formal notice of induction; to conscript. Now rare. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > military organization > enlistment or recruitment > enlist (soldiers) [verb (transitive)] wagec1330 musterc1425 to take upc1425 prest1481 to call up1523 conscribe1548 enrol1576 matriculate1577 press1600 in list1604 list1643 recruita1661 enlist1699 crimp1789 to muster into service1834 book1843 induct1934 to read in1938 1905 J. Masefield Sea Life Nelson's Time iii. 51 Having repaired on board, and hoisted his pendant, the captain read his commission, or ‘read himself in’, before the caretakers and old seamen aboard the ship. 1915 F. Hopwood Let. 20 May in M. Gilbert Winston S. Churchill (1972) III. Compan. ii. 920 It is plain that a First Sea Lord remains in office until the new Patent appointing his successor is passed the Seal & he is ‘read in’ at the Board. 1938 ‘C. S. Forester’ Ship of Line viii. 110 Excellent, Mr. Bush. Read 'em in. 2. transitive. To assume or infer (something omitted or elided) when reading; to introduce (an additional idea or element supposed to be present or implied). Also used intransitively. Cf. sense 11d. ΚΠ 1903 Westm. Gaz. 13 Nov. 7/2 The learned counsel argued that his lordship must read in a negative... In a contract for personal service you must have in it a negative, express or implied. 1919 ‘C. Dane’ Legend 96 She said to me once that the critics had ‘read in’ things that she had never dreamed of. 1979 E. H. Gombrich Sense of Order iv. 99 Finding it difficult, if not impossible, to tell at any point where..we are reading and where we are ‘reading in’. 1997 J. Elkins Our Beautiful, Dry & Distant Texts i. 19 A philosophic critique that is unwilling simply to ‘read in’ a subtext where none is explicitly present. 3. transitive. Computing. To transfer (data) into a computer or other electronic storage device. Cf. sense 11e, read-in n.¹ ΘΚΠ society > computing and information technology > data > database > use data [verb (transitive)] > store store1909 write1946 save1961 to back up1967 to read in1970 archive1979 1948 C. Chu in Theory & Techniques Design Electronic Digital Computers III. xxvii. 1 This is especially true if the machine is to solve problems in which large quantities of input and output data have to be read in and written out. 1957 D. D. McCracken Digital Computer Programming xii. 157 The reel of tape may then be..placed on a tape unit which is connected to the computer (‘on-line’), and read in at high speeds. 1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing xiv. 222 When all the records have been read-in, all that is needed then is to print the contents of the 50 cells. 1991 What's New in Design Sept. 80/3 Data can be read in from other programs or entered directly. 4. intransitive. To stand in for an actor at a rehearsal, reading his or her part. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > acting > act [verb (transitive)] > take part of at rehearsal to read in1968 1968 J. Bingham I love, I Kill iii. 32 Shirley, you read in for Sarah... You'll be understudying her anyway. 1981 J. Hiley Theatre at Work xiv. 216 Mackintosh continued to read in for him while the actor lurked at the back of the theatre looking thoroughly miserable. 2001 T. West Moment towards End of Play (2002) xi. 99 The actor who was supposed to play Johnson was not there... I was asked to read in for him. 5. transitive. To inform, to bring (a person) up to date (on something). Also reflexive. ΘΚΠ society > communication > information > action of informing > give (information) [verb (transitive)] > inform (a person) > update update1952 to read in1977 1977 F. Branston Up & Coming Man xiv. 152 What could be more natural than for a keen new councillor to read himself in on past decisions? 1987 M. McConnell Challenger ix. 130 He was not yet fully 'read in' on the complexities of the shuttle program. 2004 Re: Bush's Bipartisan Comm. in rec.sport.football.college (Usenet newsgroup) 12 Feb. He may well be an expert on corporate structuring. That does not tell us that he was read in on the planning of military operations. to read off 1. transitive and †intransitive. To take a reading of (a measurement, value, etc.) from an instrument; to derive (a result, conclusion, etc.) directly from tabulated data, a graph, etc. Also figurative. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > measurement > measuring instrument > measure by or as an instrument [verb (transitive)] > measure by means of instruments > note a reading from an instrument to read off1755 read1818 1755 Philos. Trans. 1754 (Royal Soc.) 48 602 Let the bar be apply'd to the instrument, and the degrees of the micrometer and the thermometer read off, and set down. 1785 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 75 475 I have myself repeatedly adjusted the wires eight or ten times running, allowing another person to read off and unadjust each time. 1807 T. Young Course Lect. Nat. Philos. I. x. 102 By sliding a triangle along a graduated ruler, we read off the divisions on an amplified scale with great accuracy. 1812 R. Woodhouse Elem. Treat. Astron. vi. 30 If in the second position we should read off by the microscope. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 69 Before the height of the mercury is read off. 1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VII. 435 Passing the tip of the finger over the outlines of the letters and so reading off the result. 1956 E. H. Hutten Lang. Mod. Physics vi. 262 The empiricist prejudice..is, indeed, very strong, but it is obviously not true that we simply read off our hypotheses from data. 1972 R. Galopin & N. F. M. Henry Microsc. Study Opaque Minerals vii. 165/2 The intersection..then gave a point on the Wright Chart from which the values of n and κ were read off. 2001 M. Rowlands Nature of Consciousness ii. 39 The question of whether natural facts entail moral ones, or whether moral facts can be 'read off' from natural ones, is simply irrelevant. 2. transitive. To recite or record, (items in a list, etc.) in sequence. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > speech-making > recitation > recite [verb (transitive)] > read aloud readOE to read overc1380 to read out1534 prone1683 to read upa1691 to read off1808 to call off1846 1808 C. Stower Printer's Gram. 395 That part of the copy..should be carefully transcribed or read off. 1852 J. Fiske Let. 19 Feb. (1940) 1 At school today Mr. Chase read off the prizes. 1871 J. Mackenzie Ten Years North of Orange River 338 The young men were amazed when Mr. Sykes read off to them the Zulu form of certain words. 1933 E. A. Powell Slanting Lines of Steel x. 156 As the Minister of War read off the names from a list the decorés stepped forward, one by one. 1981 ‘E. McBain’ Heat iii. 51 The sportscaster read off the baseball scores. 2006 Time Out N.Y. 19 Jan. 17/1 To hear Rachel Boynton read off the titles of her ginormous DVD collection..is to hear the zeal of a true documentary enthusiast. † to read on Obsolete. rare. transitive. To mark or impress (a design, motif, etc.) on a fabric. ΚΠ 1831 G. R. Porter Treat. Silk Manuf. 258 The workman proceeds to read on the design. to read out 1. transitive. To read aloud. Also intransitive. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > speech-making > recitation > recite [verb (transitive)] > read aloud readOE to read overc1380 to read out1534 prone1683 to read upa1691 to read off1808 to call off1846 1534 tr. Erasmus Dyaloge Funus sig. D.i He commaunded one to rede out a lowde the hole psalme. 1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xxiv. xxv. 526 Before it was all red out and published, it passed cleare. 1682 J. Bunyan Holy War 170 He read out with a loud voice the pardon. View more context for this quotation 1794 R. Southey Wat Tyler iii. i Tom Miller. Read it out—read it out. Hob. Ay, ay, let's hear the Charter. 1844 Lady G. C. Fullerton Ellen Middleton vi Sir Edmund and Henry alternately read out loud to us. 1890 H. Caine Bondman i. v The clerk and sexton read out the askings for the marriage. 1925 V. Woolf Mrs. Dalloway 167 He read out the draft of a letter which Lady Bruton felt certain was a masterpiece. 2002 J. McGahern That they may face Rising Sun (2003) 101 Johnny used to get me to read out her lines for him when he was practising his part. †2. transitive. To peruse from beginning to end; to reach the end of (a book, etc.). Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > communication > reading > [verb (transitive)] > from beginning to end over-readOE to read overc1380 pursuec1384 to see over ——1490 peruse1524 peruse1532 to read through1533 perlegate1598 to read out1646 society > communication > reading > [verb (transitive)] > read to the end of outread1578 to read out1646 finish1884 1646 T. Gataker Mistake Removed 21 Had this Autor but writ or red out the text he cites, he had found somewhat more then faith in it. 1662 H. Newcome Diary 6 Sept. (1849) 120 I read out w^t remained to be read in Rushworth. 1715 J. Swift Let. to Pope 28 June in Lett. Dr. Swift (1741) 4 I borrowed your Homer from the Bishop..and read it out in two evenings. 1747 S. Fielding Familiar Lett. David Simple II. 151 The pretence of being eager to read out some new Book which I have borrowed. 3. transitive. To expel (a person); to throw (a person) out of a body, party, church, etc., properly by reading a notice of expulsion. Chiefly in passive; also used reflexively. Cf. senses 1b.Used spec. in the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), esp. in to read out of meeting. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming out > letting or sending out > let or send out [verb (transitive)] > expel > specific people from a place, position, or possession > by reading notice of expulsion to read out1825 society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > exclusion from society > exclude from society [verb (transitive)] > exclude from membership discommonc1450 discommunec1571 unmember1658 to read out1865 1825 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 190/2 The society [of Friends] ‘read him out’ for..knocking a man..head over heels. 1841 Congress. Globe 30 June 133/2 Instead of their reading him out of church, if they did not mind he would read them out of church. 1865 R. Hunt Pop. Romances W. Eng. 1st Ser. 96 He left the ‘people’ that he mightn't be read out. 1890 Harper's Mag. Feb. 349/2 They said I wasn't no Christian; and so they got together and read me out o' the church. 1928 L. Stockett Baltimore x. 172 During the Revolution a young Friend was read out of Meeting because he looked at the muster. 1976 Time 27 Dec. 14/2 Arafat also warned that any Palestinian group that rejected the idea..must read itself out of the P.L.O. 1993 H. N. Thomas Spirits in Dark xiv. 170 A lot of people got read out of the churches fo' joinin' the Spirituals. 4. transitive. Computing. To extract or display (data) from a computer or other electronic storage device; to transfer from internal storage. Cf. sense 11e, read-out n. 1. ΘΚΠ society > computing and information technology > data > database > use data [verb (transitive)] > store > copy or transfer read1940 to read out1946 copy1953 dump1956 list1958 recall1966 to roll out1969 import1977 upload1977 export1982 1946 Ann. Computation Lab. Harvard Univ. 1 159 The number of columns shifted is recorded in a counter and a predetermined number of significant digits and a power of ten are read out. 1959 E. M. McCormick Digital Computer Primer ii. 7 When the problem is completely solved..the calculation is stopped, and the output, or answer, is read out. 1968 Times 10 Dec. 6/8 On each orbit the storage system reads out the information to a ground station. 1993 Sound & Vision Apr. 20/3 A 12-character dot-matrix display reads out the album title, artist name, track titles, timings and deck functions. 2005 Video Syst. Nov. 18/1 A pair of analog values can be read out for each clock pulse. to read over 1. transitive. To go over or through (a text, written list, etc.), reading aloud. ΘΚΠ society > communication > reading > [verb (transitive)] > from beginning to end over-readOE to read overc1380 pursuec1384 to see over ——1490 peruse1524 peruse1532 to read through1533 perlegate1598 to read out1646 the mind > language > speech > speech-making > recitation > recite [verb (transitive)] > read aloud readOE to read overc1380 to read out1534 prone1683 to read upa1691 to read off1808 to call off1846 c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 5789 Þe bysschop..þat had..ouer y-rad Alle ys orysouns. a1438 Bk. Margery Kempe (1940) i. 5 (MED) He red it ouyr be-forn þis creatur, euery word. 1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. iii. 191 Iaque. I beseech your Grace let this Letter be read... King. Berowne reade it ouer. View more context for this quotation 1626 N. Breton Fantasticks sig. F2^v The first course is served in,..the dishes haue been red ouer. 1722 D. Defoe Moll Flanders 415 Then he pull'd out his Grandmother's Will, and read it over to me. 1847 A. Brontë Agnes Grey xi. 176 Having opened his prayer-book, and hastily read over a part of the service for the sick. 1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) IV. 160 Socrates requested that the first thesis..might be read over again. 1915 W. Cather Song of Lark vi. iii. 405 The doctor took out Thea's letter to him, and read it over to Mrs. Kronborg. 2004 B. Blech Eyewitness Jewish Hist. ii. vi. 65 Demetrius collected together the Jewish population in the place where the translation had been made, and read it over to all. 2. transitive. To go over or look back over (a letter, book, etc.); to peruse in full. Also figurative and in extended use. ΚΠ a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (1987) ii. 1085 He..radde it over, and gan the lettre folde. 1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. cxxxiij The Lantgraue readinge ouer their booke and their letters, noted what he thought blame worthy. 1594 J. Lyly Mother Bombie iii. iii. sig. E3 Fooles..Haue farre more knowledge, To reade a woman ouer, Than a neate prating louer. a1639 T. Dekker et al. Witch of Edmonton (1658) iii. i. 32 Ah, 'las! I am not half perfect in it [sc. parting] yet, I must have it read over an hundred times. 1683 H. Prideaux in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eminent Literary Men (1843) (Camden) 185 Some booke or other..which he will read over, and then bring me again. 1758 T. Gray Let. 28 Oct. in Corr. (1971) II. 591 The first act of Caractacus is just arrived here, but I have not read it over. 1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xxv. 211 ‘There's no denying that the position is a hard one,’ Dobbin replied, after reading over the letter with a blank countenance. 1897 B. Stoker Dracula xvii. 226 In the meantime I shall read over some of these documents, and shall be better able to understand certain things. 1946 Nat. Hist. Mag. Mar. 144/2 Please read over the foregoing statement again, Madam Regent. 1993 R. Connolly Sunday Morning (BNC) 128 When she had finished, Emily read over what she had written. 2006 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 13 July 44/1 To read over..the entire published output of a poet whose work one is familiar with. to read through transitive. To peruse from beginning to end. ΘΚΠ society > communication > reading > [verb (transitive)] > from beginning to end over-readOE to read overc1380 pursuec1384 to see over ——1490 peruse1524 peruse1532 to read through1533 perlegate1598 to read out1646 1533 T. More Apol. viii, in Wks. (1557) 862/2 Lette theym read my confutacion thorowe. a1578 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1899) II. 60 Quhene they had red throw all his lang manassingis. 1638 R. Baker tr. J. L. G. de Balzac New Epist. II. 196 I may boldly say, I never yet read a whole Gazetta through. 1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding To Rdr. sig. a2 If any one take the like Offence at the Entrance of this Treatise, I shall desire him to read it through: and then I hope he will be convinced. 1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 133 Who now reads Bolingbroke? Who ever read him through? 1858 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. (1870) II. 113 He read it through, and replied that..for himself it was impossible [to take the oath]. 1958 H. J. Eysenck Sense & Nonsense in Psychol. (rev. ed.) iii. 119 The unmitigated boredom produced by having to read through countless reports, all as similar as two peas. 2004 D. Lodge Author, Author i. 10 He read through the manuscript of another unfinished novel. to read up 1. transitive. To read aloud. In later use Scottish. Sc. National Dictionary (at cited word) records this sense as still in use in Fife and Wigtownshire in 1967. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > speech-making > recitation > recite [verb (transitive)] > read aloud readOE to read overc1380 to read out1534 prone1683 to read upa1691 to read off1808 to call off1846 a1691 G. Fox Jrnl. (1952) (modernized text) 247 ‘Thou hast a copy of it. Read it up,’ said I. 1784 R. Bage Barham Downs I. 224 Read it up, Timothy: I have not yet seen or heard a syllable of it. 1862 F. C. Husenbeth Life J. Milner 173 After dinner the Secretary of the Catholic Board read up certain Resolutions. 1925 C. P. Slater Marget Pow 17 Then, when we set foot on a foreign shore, and went birlin' away to Paris, the very first station I read up was Creil. 2. a. intransitive. To learn or become informed about something through a course of reading; to become knowledgeable or expert on a subject by reading. Cf. sense 8b. ΘΚΠ society > education > learning > study > [verb (intransitive)] > by reading read1803 to read up1837 1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers l. 547 He crammed for it, to use a technical..term; he read up for the subject. a1854 E. Grant Mem. Highland Lady (1988) II. xxiv. 170 The clever oddity who..read up in the mornings for conversational purposes, and at the dinners adroitly brought in the prepared subject. 1889 Harper's Mag. Jan. 209/2 Men should..be compelled to ‘read up’ on questions of the time. 1911 J. London Let. 17 Aug. (1966) 350 I should advise you..to read up on socialism. 1976 ‘M. Albrand’ Taste of Terror xviii. 103 Why don't you read up on it in the Britannica? 2004 Focus Feb. 106/2 I've read up on the Atkins diet and its claim that I should stop fretting about calories and fat. b. transitive. To study (a subject, topic, etc.) intensively and systematically; to familiarize oneself with (the contents of a book, a written text, etc.). Cf. sense 8a. ΘΚΠ society > education > learning > study > [verb (transitive)] > study by reading studya1425 revolve1485 to read up1842 1842 J. S. Mill Let. 22 Aug. in Wks. (1963) XIII. 542 I began to read up the subject. 1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain ii. xxvii. 657 I dread reading up all I must read presently. 1894 ‘R. Andom’ We Three & Troddles xvii. 149 Those miserable, hollow shams who read up the cricket news..in the evening papers. 1921 R. Macaulay Dangerous Ages v. 103 You should read it up beforehand, and try if you can understand it. 1962 A. Bello My Life viii. 88 I got hold of as many files as I could and read up all that I could lay my hands on. 1989 C. Boylan Concerning Virgins (1990) 99 Being an intelligent girl she read up some books first to make sure the slits would not go through. Phrasal verbs PV1. Computing. Used attributively with the sense ‘reading’. ΘΚΠ society > computing and information technology > hardware > [adjective] > properties of memory non-volatile1950 volatile1950 read1953 1953 A. D. Booth & K. H. V. Booth Automatic Digital Calculators xii. 115 Mounted close to the drum are a series of read/record heads. 1958 Science 24 Oct. 1012/2 Reinitiation of the read operation. 1960 Proc. Inst. Electr. Engineers New Ser. 7 b. 56 (heading) A digital computer store with very short read time. 1964 F. L. Westwater Electronic Computers iv. 77 The resulting change of flux as the core switches will cause an electromotive force in the read wire. 1990 M. M. Mirabito & B. Morgenstern New Communications Technol. x. 200/2 During a read operation, a beam of light generated by the laser scans the CD. 2002 Sci. Amer. June 56/3 As the read head travels along a track of data on a computer disk, the small magnetic fields of the recorded 1's and 0's change the second layer's magnetization back and forth. PV2. read-around ratio n. Computing the number of times that a particular bit in an electrostatic store can be read without degrading bits stored nearby. ΘΚΠ society > computing and information technology > hardware > [noun] > memory > properties of memory read-around ratio1953 packing density1956 volatility1969 1953 Math. Tables & Other Aids Computation 7 112 The inherent coupling between adjacent storage locations on the face of any cathode ray tube places a limit on the number of times any point on the raster may be consulted before its neighbors are regenerated. For the Institute machine this number, called the ‘read around’ ratio, is in the neighborhood of 30. 1969 P. B. Jordain Condensed Computer Encycl. 415 A high read-around ratio means greater reliability. 2004 R. K. Iyer in R. Jacquart Building Information Soc. 136 Special tests were used for the electrostatic Williams-tube memory to determine the Read-Around Ratio (RAR) for the day, i.e., the number of times a cell's neighbors could be bombarded between refreshes without altering the cell's contents. read-me file n. Computing a file containing information about other stored files; spec. a text file with information concerning the installation, use, or other aspects of a particular item of software. ΚΠ 1982 net.general 3 Jan. (Usenet newsgroup, accessed 10 Aug. 2006) I would appreciate it if each site would take a moment to install the remainder of this message in their netnews source directory as file readme (or appended to any existing readme file). 1990 Computer Buyer's Guide & Handbk. vii. 103/2 The readme file that came with the distribution disk mentioned that an index is being prepared. 1995 D. F. Hendry Dynamic Econometrics Pref. p. xxxiv Files are stored in the directory called pub\\dynects in both ASCII and PcGive format. Please read the ‘readme’ file in this directory before proceeding. 1997 J. Seabrook Deeper v. 135 I..downloaded the Installer to my computer, read the Read Me file, and followed the instructions. 2005 Computer Gaming World (Nexis) 1 Oct. 76 These games are, as the readme file warns, strictly for nostalgia's sake. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.OEadj.1574v.OE
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readn.

readadj.

Compounds

readv.

Phrases

Phrasal verbs

Phrasal verbs