receive

English Online Dictionary. What means receive‎? What does receive mean?

English

Alternative forms

• receave, receyve (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English receiven, from Old French receivre, from Latin recipere (“take back, accept, etc.”), from re- (“back”) + capiō (“to take”); see capacious. Compare conceive, deceive, perceive. Displaced native Middle English terms in -fon/-fangen (e.g. afon, anfon, afangen, underfangen, etc. "to receive" from Old English -fōn), native Middle English thiggen (“to receive”) (from Old English þiċġan), and non-native Middle English aquilen, enquilen (“to receive”) (from Old French aquillir, encueillir).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈsiːv/
• Rhymes: -iːv
• Hyphenation: re‧ceive

Verb

receive (third-person singular simple present receives, present participle receiving, simple past and past participle received)

1. To take, as something that is offered, given, committed, sent, paid, etc.; to accept; to be given something.
2. (law) To take goods knowing them to be stolen.
3. To act as a host for guests; to give admittance to; to permit to enter, as into one's house, presence, company, etc.
4. To incur (an injury).
5. To allow (a custom, tradition, etc.); to give credence or acceptance to.
6. (telecommunications) To detect a signal from a transmitter.
7. (sports) To be in a position to take possession, or hit back the ball.
   1. (tennis, badminton, squash) To be in a position to hit back a service.
   2. (American football) To be in a position to catch a forward pass.
8. (transitive, intransitive) To accept into the mind; to understand.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

receive (plural receives)

1. (telecommunications) An operation in which data is received.

Further reading

• “receive”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “receive”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.