*return*

adj. That may not be returned for a refund; -- of purchased goods, or containers for purchased items; as, nonreturnable bottles. Opposite of returnable. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Returned p. pr. & vb. n. Returning. ] [ OE. returnen, retournen, F. retourner; pref. re- re- + tourner to turn. See Turn. ] 1. To turn back; to go or come again to the same place or condition. “Return to your father's house.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

On their embattled ranks the waves return. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

If they returned out of bondage, it must be into a state of freedom. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Gen. iii. 19. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To come back, or begin again, after an interval, regular or irregular; to appear again. [ 1913 Webster ]

With the year
Seasons return; but not me returns
Day or the sweet approach of even or morn. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To speak in answer; to reply; to respond. [ 1913 Webster ]

He said, and thus the queen of heaven returned. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To revert; to pass back into possession. [ 1913 Webster ]

And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David. 1Kings xii. 26. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To go back in thought, narration, or argument. “But to return to my story.” Fielding. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To bring, carry, send, or turn, back; as, to return a borrowed book, or a hired horse. [ 1913 Webster ]

Both fled attonce, ne ever back returned eye. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To repay; as, to return borrowed money. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To give in requital or recompense; to requite. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Lord shall return thy wickedness upon thine own head. 1 Kings ii. 44. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To give back in reply; as, to return an answer; to return thanks. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To retort; to throw back; as, to return the lie. [ 1913 Webster ]

If you are a malicious reader, you return upon me, that I affect to be thought more impartial than I am. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To report, or bring back and make known. [ 1913 Webster ]

And all the people answered together, . . . and Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord. Ex. xix. 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To render, as an account, usually an official account, to a superior; to report officially by a list or statement; as, to return a list of stores, of killed or wounded; to return the result of an election. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. Hence, to elect according to the official report of the election officers. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

9. To bring or send back to a tribunal, or to an office, with a certificate of what has been done; as, to return a writ. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. To convey into official custody, or to a general depository. [ 1913 Webster ]

Instead of a ship, he should levy money, and return the same to the treasurer for his majesty's use. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. (Tennis) To bat (the ball) back over the net. [ 1913 Webster ]

12. (Card Playing) To lead in response to the lead of one's partner; as, to return a trump; to return a diamond for a club. [ 1913 Webster ]

To return a lead (Card Playing), to lead the same suit led by one's partner. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To restore; requite; repay; recompense; render; remit; report. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of returning (intransitive), or coming back to the same place or condition; as, the return of one long absent; the return of health; the return of the seasons, or of an anniversary. [ 1913 Webster ]

At the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee. 1 Kings xx. 22. [ 1913 Webster ]

His personal return was most required and necessary. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of returning (transitive), or sending back to the same place or condition; restitution; repayment; requital; retribution; as, the return of anything borrowed, as a book or money; a good return in tennis. [ 1913 Webster ]

You made my liberty your late request:
Is no return due from a grateful breast? Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which is returned. Specifically: (a) A payment; a remittance; a requital. [ 1913 Webster ]

I do expect return
Of thrice three times the value of this bond. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) An answer; as, a return to one's question. (c) An account, or formal report, of an action performed, of a duty discharged, of facts or statistics, and the like; as, election returns; a return of the amount of goods produced or sold; especially, in the plural, a set of tabulated statistics prepared for general information. (d) The profit on, or advantage received from, labor, or an investment, undertaking, adventure, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

The fruit from many days of recreation is very little; but from these few hours we spend in prayer, the return is great. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Arch.) The continuation in a different direction, most often at a right angle, of a building, face of a building, or any member, as a molding or mold; -- applied to the shorter in contradistinction to the longer; thus, a facade of sixty feet east and west has a return of twenty feet north and south. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Law) (a) The rendering back or delivery of writ, precept, or execution, to the proper officer or court. (b) The certificate of an officer stating what he has done in execution of a writ, precept, etc., indorsed on the document. (c) The sending back of a commission with the certificate of the commissioners. (d) A day in bank. See Return day, below. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Mil. & Naval) An official account, report, or statement, rendered to the commander or other superior officer; as, the return of men fit for duty; the return of the number of the sick; the return of provisions, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. pl. (Fort. & Mining) The turnings and windings of a trench or mine. [ 1913 Webster ]

Return ball, a ball held by an elastic string so that it returns to the hand from which it is thrown, -- used as a plaything. --
Return bend, a pipe fitting for connecting the contiguous ends of two nearly parallel pipes lying alongside or one above another. --
Return day (Law), the day when the defendant is to appear in court, and the sheriff is to return the writ and his proceedings. --
Return flue, in a steam boiler, a flue which conducts flame or gases of combustion in a direction contrary to their previous movement in another flue. --
Return pipe (Steam Heating), a pipe by which water of condensation from a heater or radiator is conveyed back toward the boiler. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Capable of, or admitting of, being returned. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) Legally required to be returned, delivered, given, or rendered; as, a writ or precept returnable at a certain day; a verdict returnable to the court. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who returns. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Admitting no return. Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

See accommodating.
See aching.
See ailing.
See aiming.
See alarming.
See altering.
See appreciating.
See approving.
See aspiring.
See assisting.
See attempting.
See attending.
See bearing.
See befitting.
See beginning.
See believing.
See bleaching.
See bleeding.
See blemishing.
See blenching.
See blossoming.
See blushing.
See boding.
See branching.
See breathing.
See burning.
See calculating.
See ceasing.
See changing.
See charming.
See communicating.
See complaining.
See complying.
See conceiving.
See conducing.
See confessing.
See conniving.
See consenting.
See considering.
See conspiring.
See consulting.
See consuming.
See contending.
See contriving.
See conversing.
See convincing.
See dawning.
See decaying.
See delaying.
See depending.
See derogating.
See deserving.
See desiring.
See despairing.
See detesting.
See deviating.
See differencing.
See discerning.
See discording.
See discriminating.
See disobliging.
See dispensing.
See dissembling.
See dissolving.
See distinguishing.
See distracting.
See disturbing.
See doubting.
See dreading.
See drooping.
See ebbing.
See echoing.
See edifying.
See ending.
See enduring.
See engaging.
See enjoying.
See entering.
See enterprising.
See entertaining.
See envying.
See existing.
See fadging.
See fading.
See fainting.
See faltering.
See fearing.
See feigning.
See fighting.
See fitting.
See flagging.
See flattering.
See flinching.
See folding.
See forbearing.
See foreboding.
See foreseeing.
See forgiving.
See giving.
See grudging.
See harming.
See heeding.
See hesitating.
See hoping.
See hurting.
See importing.
See imposing.
See improving.
See interesting.
See intermitting.
See intoxicating.
See inviting.
See jarring.
See laboring.
See lingering.
See listening.
See loving.
See meddling.
See meriting.
See mistrusting.
See moving.
See murmuring.
See obliging.
See observing.
See offending.
See opening.
See pardoning.
See paying.
See perceiving.
See performing.
See perishing.
See pitying.
See pleasing.
See possessing.
See preaching.
See prepossessing.
See presuming.
See pretending.
See prevailing.
See prevaricating.
See profiting.
See promising.
See proving.
See quailing.
See questioning.
See reasoning.
See recalling.
See reclining.
See recurring.
See referring.
See reflecting.
See refunding.
See refusing.
See rejoicing.
See relaxing.
See relishing.
See remembering.
See repenting.
See repining.
See reproving.
See repulsing.
See resisting.
See resolving.
See resting.
See returning.
See rewarding.
See sanctifying.
See satisfying.
See searching.
See seeing.
See setting.
See shrinking.
See sinking.
See sleeping.
See slipping.
See slumbering.
See speaking.
See stinting.
See stirring.
See stooping.
See submitting.
See sufficing.
See suiting.
See surging.
See suspecting.
See sweating.
See swerving.
See sympathizing.
See tasting.
See thriving.
See tiring.
See toiling.
See trading.
See trembling.
See trespassing.
See trifling.
See vacillating.
See varying.
See walking.
See wandering.
See waning.
See wasting.
See wavering.
See weeping.
See winking.
See winning.
See withdrawing.
See withering.
See wondering.
See working.
See writing.
See yielding.
----- and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

The above classes of words are unlimited in extent, and such compounds may be formed by any writer or speaker at will from almost all the adjectives or participles in the language, excepting those which have a recognized and usual negative correspondent with the prefix -in. No attempt will be made, therefore, to define them all in this Dictionary; many will be omitted from its Vocabulary which are negations of the simple word, and are readily explained by prefixing a not to the latter. Derivatives of these words in -ly and -ness will also, for the most part, be omitted for the same or similar reasons. [ 1913 Webster ]

There will be inserted as separate articles with definitions, the following: -- [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Those which have acquired an opposed or contrary, instead of a merely negative, meaning; as, unfriendly, ungraceful, unpalatable, unquiet, and the like; or else an intensive sense more than a prefixed not would express; as, unending, unparalleled, undisciplined, undoubted, unsafe, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Those which have the value of independent words, inasmuch as the simple words are either not used at all, or are rarely, or at least much less frequently, used; as, unavoidable, unconscionable, undeniable, unspeakable, unprecedented, unruly, and the like; or inasmuch as they are used in a different sense from the usual meaning of the primitive, or especially in one of the significations of the latter; as, unaccountable, unalloyed, unbelieving, unpretending, unreserved, and the like; or inasmuch as they are so frequently and familiarly used that they are hardly felt to be of negative origin; as, uncertain, uneven, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Those which are anomalous, provincial, or, for some other reason, not desirable to be used, and are so indicated; as, unpure for impure, unsatisfaction for dissatisfaction, unexpressible for inexpressible, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

II. Un- is prefixed to nouns to express the absence of, or the contrary of, that which the noun signifies; as, unbelief, unfaith, unhealth, unrest, untruth, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Compounds of this last class are given in full in their proper order in the Vocabulary. [ 1913 Webster ]