return

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

English

Alternative forms

• returne (obsolete)
• retvrn (Internet slang)

Etymology

From Middle English returnen, retornen, from Anglo-Norman returner, from Old French retourner, retorner, from Medieval Latin retornare (“to turn back”), from re- + tornare (“to turn”). Compare beturn.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: rĭ-tûrnʹ, IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈtɜːn/
• (General American) enPR: rĭ-tûrnʹ, IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈtɝn/
• (Ireland) enPR: rĭ-tûrnʹ, IPA^(key): /ɹəˈtɚːn/
  • (Dublin) IPA^(key): /ɹəˈtʊːɹn/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)n
• Hyphenation: re‧turn

Verb

return (third-person singular simple present returns, present participle returning, simple past and past participle returned)

1. (intransitive) To come or go back (to a place or person).
2. (intransitive) To go back in thought, narration, or argument.

3. (intransitive) To recur; to come again.

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To turn back, retreat.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To turn (something) round.
6. (transitive) To place or put back something where it had been.

7. (transitive) To give something back to its original holder or owner.

8. To give in requital or recompense; to requite.
9. (transitive) To reciprocate (a visit or telephone call).

10. (transitive) To take back something to a vendor for a complete or partial refund.

11. (tennis) To bat the ball back over the net in response to a serve.

12. (card games) To play a card as a result of another player's lead.

13. (cricket) To throw a ball back to the wicket-keeper (or a fielder at that position) from somewhere in the field.
14. (transitive) To say in reply; to respond.
15. (intransitive, computing) To relinquish control to the calling procedure.
16. (transitive, computing) To pass (data) back to the calling procedure.

17. (transitive, dated) To retort; to throw back.
18. (transitive) To report, or bring back and make known.
19. (British, by extension, dated in the US) To elect according to the official report of the election officers.
20. (fencing) To give a thrust or cut after parrying a sword-thrust.

Synonyms

• (undo a purchase): revend

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

return (countable and uncountable, plural returns)

1. The act of returning.
2. A return ticket.

3. An item that is returned, e.g. due to a defect, or the act of returning it.

4. An answer.

5. An account, or formal report, of an action performed, of a duty discharged, of facts or statistics, etc.; especially, in the plural, a set of tabulated statistics prepared for general information.
6. Gain or loss from an investment.
7. (taxation, finance) A report of income submitted to a government for purposes of specifying exact tax payment amounts; a tax return.

8. (computing) A carriage return character.
9. (computing) The act of relinquishing control to the calling procedure.
10. (computing) A return value: the data passed back from a called procedure.
11. A return pipe, returning fluid to a boiler or other central plant (compare with flow pipe, which carries liquid away from a central plant).

12. (mining) A roadway along which foul air travels from the face on its way out of the mine.
13. A short perpendicular extension of a desk, usually slightly lower.
14. (American football) The act of catching a ball after a punt and running it back towards the opposing team.
15. (cricket) A throw from a fielder to the wicket-keeper or to another fielder at the wicket.
16. (architecture) The continuation in a different direction, most often at a right angle, of a building, face of a building, or any member, such as a moulding; applied to the shorter in contradistinction to the longer.

Synonyms

• (the act of returning): gaincoming

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Turner, turner