Re*turn" (?), 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.
At the return of the year the
king of Syria will come up
against thee.
1 Kings xx. 22. His personal return was most required and necessary.
Shak. 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.
You made my liberty your late request:
Is no return due from a grateful breast?
Dryden.
3. That which is returned. Specifically: (a) A payment; a remittance; a requital.
I do expect
return
Of thrice three times the value of
this bond.
Shak. (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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
7.
pl. (Fort. & Mining) The turnings and windings of a
trench or mine.
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.
Re*turn" , v. t. 1. To
bring, carry, send, or turn,
back; as, to
return a borrowed book, or a hired
horse.
Both fled attonce, ne ever back returned eye.
Spenser.
2. To repay; as, to
return borrowed money.
3. To give in requital or recompense; to requite.
The Lord shall return thy wickedness upon thine own head.
1 Kings
ii. 44. 4. To give back in
reply; as, to return an answer; to
return thanks.
5. To retort; to throw back; as, to return the lie.
If you are a malicious reader, you return upon me, that
I affect to
be thought more impartial than I am.
Dryden. 6.
To report, or bring back
and make known.
And all the people answered together, .
. . and Moses returned
the words of the people unto the Lord.
Ex. xix.
8. 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.
8. Hence, to elect according to the official report of the
election officers. [Eng.]
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.
10. To convey into official custody, or to a general
depository.
Instead of a
ship, he should levy money, and return the same to the treasurer for his majesty's
use.
Clarendon. 11. (Tennis) To bat (the ball)
back over the net.
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.
To return a lead (Card Playing), to lead the same
suit led by
one's partner.
Syn.
-- To restore; requite; repay; recompense; render; remit; report.
Re*turn" (?), 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.
On their embattled ranks the waves
return.
Milton.
If they
returned out of bondage, it must be into
a state of freedom.
Locke.
Dust thou art, and unto
dust shalt thou return.
Gen. iii. 19. 2. To come back,
or begin again, after an interval, regular or irregular; to appear again.
With the year
Seasons return;
but not me
returns
Day or the sweet approach of even or morn.
Milton.
3. To speak in answer; to reply; to respond.
He said, and thus the queen of heaven returned.
Pope. 4. To revert; to
pass back into possession.
And Jeroboam said
in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house
of David.
1Kings xii. 26.
5. To go back in thought, narration, or argument. "But to return to my story." Fielding.
Re-turn" (?), v. t. & i. To turn again.
Hear it pronounced