v., read (rĕd), read·ing, reads. v.tr.
- To examine and grasp the meaning of (written or printed characters, words, or sentences).
- To utter or render aloud (written or printed material): read poems to the students.
- To have the ability to examine and grasp the meaning of (written or printed material in a given language or notation): reads Chinese; reads music.
- To examine and grasp the meaning of (language in a form other than written or printed characters, words, or sentences): reading Braille; reading sign language.
- To examine and grasp the meaning of (a graphic representation): reading a map.
- To discern and interpret the nature or significance of through close examination or sensitive observation: The tracker read the trail for signs of game.
- To discern or anticipate through examination or observation; descry: “I can read abandonment in a broken door or shattered window” (William H. Gass).
- To determine the intent or mood of: can read your mind like a book; a hard person to read.
- To attribute a certain interpretation or meaning to: read her words differently than I did.
- To consider (something written or printed) as having a particular meaning or significance: read the novel as a parable.
- To foretell or predict (the future).
- To receive or comprehend (a radio message, for example): I read you loud and clear.
- To study or make a study of: read history as an undergraduate.
- To learn or get knowledge of from something written or printed: read that interest rates would continue to rise.
- To proofread.
- To have or use as a preferred reading in a particular passage: For change read charge.
- To indicate, register, or show: The dial reads 32°.
- Computer Science. To obtain (data) from a storage medium, such as a magnetic disk.
- Genetics. To decode or translate a sequence of messenger RNA into an amino acid sequence in a polypeptide chain.
- To examine and grasp the meaning of printed or written characters, as of words or music.
- To speak aloud the words that one is reading: read to the children every night.
- To learn by reading: read about the storm in the paper today.
- To study.
- To have a particular wording: Recite the poem exactly as it reads.
- To contain a specific meaning: As the law reads, the defendant is guilty.
- To indicate, register, or show a measurement or figure: How does your new watch read?
- To have a specified character or quality for the reader: Your poems read well.
Something that is read: “The book is a page-turner as well as a very satisfying read” (Frank Conroy).
adj. (rĕd)Informed by reading; learned: only sparsely read in fields outside my profession.
phrasal verbs:read out
- To read aloud: Please read out the names on the list.
- To study or learn by reading: Read up on the places you plan to visit before you travel.
read a lecture (or lesson)
- To issue a reprimand: My parents read me a lecture because I had neglected my chores.
- To perceive or detect an obscure or unexpressed meaning: learned to read between the lines of corporate annual reports to discern areas of fiscal weakness.
- To expel by proclamation from a social, political, or other group: was read out of the secretariat after the embarrassing incident.
[Middle English reden, from Old English rǣdan, to advise.]
WORD HISTORY English is the one of the few western European languages that does not derive its verb for “to read” from Latin legere. Compare, for example, leggere in Italian, lire in French, and lesen in German. (Equally surprising is the fact that English is the only western European language not to derive its verb for “to write” from Latin scrībere.) Read comes from the Old English verb rǣdan, “to advise, interpret (something difficult), interpret (something written), read.” Rǣdan is related to the German verb raten, “to advise” (as in Rathaus, “townhall”). The Old English noun rǣd, “counsel,” survives in the rare noun rede, “counsel, advice” and in the name of the unfortunate King Ethelred the Unready, whose epithet is often misunderstood. Unready here does not have its current sense “unprepared”; it is a late 16th-century spelling of an earlier unredy, “ill advised, rash, foolish,” from rede.
