GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 3 definitions

1.       
   Answer , v. t. [imp. & p. p. Answered ; p. pr. & vb. n. Answering.] [OE. andswerien, AS. andswerian, andswarian, to answer, fr. andswaru, n., answer. See Answer, n.]
   To speak in defense against; to reply to in defense; as, to answer a charge; to answer an accusation.
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   To speak or write in return to, as in return to a call or question, or to a speech, declaration, argument, or the like; to reply to (a question, remark, etc.); to respond to.
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   She answers him as if she knew his mind.
   Shak.
   
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   So spake the apostate angel, though in pain: . . . 
   And him thus answered soon his bold compeer.
   Milton.
   
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   To respond to satisfactorily; to meet successfully by way of explanation, argument, or justification, and the like; to refute.
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   No man was able to answer him a word.
   Matt. xxii. 46.
   
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   These shifts refuted, answer thine appellant.
   Milton.
   
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   The reasoning was not and could not be answered.
   Macaulay.
   
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   To be or act in return or response to. Hence: (a) To be or act in compliance with, in fulfillment or satisfaction of, as an order, obligation, demand; as, he answered my claim upon him; the servant answered the bell.
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   This proud king . . . studies day and night
   To answer all the debts he owes unto you.
   Shak.
   
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   (b) To render account to or for.
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   I will . . . send him to answer thee.
   Shak.
   
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   (c) To atone; to be punished for.
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   And grievously hath Cæzar answered it.
   Shak.
   
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   (d) To be opposite to; to face.
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   The windows answering each other, we could just discern the glowing horizon them.
   Gilpin.
   
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   (e) To be or act an equivalent to, or as adequate or sufficient for; to serve for; to repay. [R.]
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   Money answereth all things.
   Eccles. x. 19.
   
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   (f) To be or act in accommodation, conformity, relation, or proportion to; to correspond to; to suit.
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   Weapons must needs be dangerous things, if they answered the bulk of so prodigious a person.
   Swift.
   
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2.       
   Answer, v. i.
   To speak or write by way of return (originally, to a charge), or in reply; to make response.
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   There was no voice, nor any that answered.
   1 Kings xviii. 26.
   
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   To make a satisfactory response or return. Hence: To render account, or to be responsible; to be accountable; to make amends; as, the man must answer to his employer for the money intrusted to his care.
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   Let his neck answer for it, if there is any martial law.
   Shak.
   
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   To be or act in return. Hence: (a) To be or act by way of compliance, fulfillment, reciprocation, or satisfaction; to serve the purpose; as, gypsum answers as a manure on some soils.
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   Do the strings answer to thy noble hand?
   Dryden.
   
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   (b) To be opposite, or to act in opposition.   (c) To be or act as an equivalent, or as adequate or sufficient; as, a very few will answer. (d) To be or act in conformity, or by way of accommodation, correspondence, relation, or proportion; to conform; to correspond; to suit; -- usually with to.
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   That the time may have all shadow and silence in it, and the place answer to convenience.
   Shak.
   
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   If this but answer to my just belief,
   I 'll remember you.
   Shak.
   
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   As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.
   Prov. xxvii. 19.
   
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3.       
   Answer, n. [OE. andsware, AS. andswaru; and against + swerian to swear. √177, 196.  See Anti-, and Swear, and cf. 1st un-.]
   A reply to a charge; a defense.
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   At my first answer no man stood with me.
   2 Tim. iv. 16.
   
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   Something said or written in reply to a question, a call, an argument, an address, or the like; a reply.
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   A soft answer turneth away wrath.
   Prov. xv. 1.
   
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   I called him, but he gave me no answer.
   Cant. v. 6.
   
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   Something done in return for, or in consequence of, something else; a responsive action.
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   Great the slaughter is
   Here made by the Roman; great the answer be
   Britons must take.
   Shak.
   
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   A solution, the result of a mathematical operation; as, the answer to a problem.
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   (Law) A counter-statement of facts in a course of pleadings; a confutation of what the other party has alleged; a responsive declaration by a witness in reply to a question. In Equity, it is the usual form of defense to the complainant's charges in his bill.
   Bouvier.
   
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   Syn. -- Reply; rejoinder; response. See Reply.
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