Read (rēd), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Read (rĕd); p. pr. & vb. n. Reading.] [OE. reden, ræden, AS. rǣdan to read, advise, counsel, fr. rǣd advice, counsel, rǣdan (imperf. reord) to advise, counsel, guess; akin to D. raden to advise, G. raten, rathen, Icel. rāða, Goth. rēdan (in comp.), and perh. also to Skr. rādh to succeed. √116. Cf. Riddle.]
1. To advise; to counsel. [Obs.] See Rede.
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Therefore, I read thee, get thee to God's word, and thereby try all doctrine. Tyndale.
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2. To interpret; to explain; as, “to read a riddle”.
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3. To tell; to declare; to recite. [Obs.]
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But read how art thou named, and of what kin. Spenser.
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4. To go over, as characters or words, and utter aloud, or recite to one's self inaudibly; to take in the sense of, as of language, by interpreting the characters with which it is expressed; to peruse; as, “to read a discourse; to read the letters of an alphabet; to read figures; to read the notes of music, or to read music; to read a book.”
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Redeth [read ye] the great poet of Itaille. Chaucer.
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Well could he rede a lesson or a story. Chaucer.
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5. Hence, to know fully; to comprehend.
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Who is't can read a woman? Shak.
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6. To discover or understand by characters, marks, features, etc.; to learn by observation.
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An armed corse did lie,
In whose dead face he read great magnanimity. Spenser.
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Those about her
From her shall read the perfect ways of honor. Shak.
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7. To make a special study of, as by perusing textbooks; as, “to read theology or law”.
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To read one's self in, to read aloud the Thirty-nine Articles and the Declaration of Assent, -- required of a clergyman of the Church of England when he first officiates in a new benefice.
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Read, v. i.
1. To give advice or counsel. [Obs.]
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2. To tell; to declare. [Obs.] Spenser.
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3. To perform the act of reading; to peruse, or to go over and utter aloud, the words of a book or other like document.
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So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense. Neh. viii. 8.
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4. To study by reading; as, “he read for the bar”.
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5. To learn by reading.
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I have read of an Eastern king who put a judge to death for an iniquitous sentence. Swift.
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6. To appear in writing or print; to be expressed by, or consist of, certain words or characters; as, “the passage reads thus in the early manuscripts”.
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7. To produce a certain effect when read; as, “that sentence reads queerly”.
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To read between the lines, to infer something different from what is plainly indicated; to detect the real meaning as distinguished from the apparent meaning.
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