read
VERB · English
Experimental / limited support
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The corpus records 19 senses of read. Each sense below has its own Add to list, so you choose the one you mean.
Display information
Experimental coverage — measured below Partial on the number of recorded words, definitions, translations, word forms and pronunciation. Treat entries as evidence to check; meanings may be incomplete.
English is Experimental in Words. Support is measured, not declared: a language reaches Partial only when every measure meets its threshold, and a measure that has not been taken does not count. The development corpus holds 60 source-backed words in English. What is shown may be incomplete, and pronunciation audio, generated forms and generated examples are not offered.
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Definition: To look at and interpret letters or other information that is written. From a source of medium confidence.
intransitive · transitive
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
- Have you read this book? Usage example — not an attested quotation.
- He doesn’t like to read. Usage example — not an attested quotation.
- During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant[…] 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond:
- She reads Playgirl magazine, goes to a male-strip joint and then complains about sexual harassment on the job. 1982, Robert M. Evenson, “"Liberated" Woman"”, in The Cincinnati Enquirer:
- On this occasion he was carrying in his right hand a copy of the English-language China News, an odd touch because the President did not read English. 1983, James C. H. Shen, “A Round of Calls”, in Robert Myers, editor, The U.S. & Free China: How the U.S. Sold Out Its Ally, Washington, D.C.: Acropolis Books Ltd., →ISBN, page 112:
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Definition: To be understood or physically read in a specific way. From a source of medium confidence.
ergative · intransitive · transitive
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
- Arabic reads right to left. Usage example — not an attested quotation.
- That sentence reads strangely. Usage example — not an attested quotation.
- Place-names throughout the 4,000-mile-long passage read like a roster of those who challenged its icy labyrinths of more than 18,000 islands—Baffin, Hudson, Davis, Foxe, Parry, Bylot, Sverdrup. 1989 May, Jeff MacInnis, “Braving the Northwest Passage”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 586:
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Definition: To read a work or works written by the named author. From a source of medium confidence.
intransitive · metonymically · transitive
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
- At the moment I'm reading Milton. Usage example — not an attested quotation.
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Definition: To speak aloud words or other information that is written. (often construed with a to phrase or an indirect object) From a source of medium confidence.
intransitive · transitive
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
- He read us a passage from his new book. Usage example — not an attested quotation.
- All right, class, who wants to read next? Usage example — not an attested quotation.
- In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […] and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned. 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement. […] 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
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Definition: To interpret, or infer a meaning, significance, thought, intention, etc., from. From a source of medium confidence.
transitive
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
- She read my mind and promptly rose to get me a glass of water. Usage example — not an attested quotation.
- I can read his feelings in his face. Usage example — not an attested quotation.
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Definition: To consist of certain text. From a source of medium confidence.
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
- On the door hung a sign that read "No admittance". Usage example — not an attested quotation.
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Definition: To substitute a corrected piece of text in place of an erroneous one; used to introduce an emendation of a text. From a source of medium confidence.
ergative
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
- In Livy, it is nearly certain that for Pylleon we should read Pteleon, as this place is mentioned in connection with Antron. Usage example — not an attested quotation. 1832, John Lemprière et al., Bibliotheca classica, Seventh Edition, W. E. Dean, page 263
- The sign of coefficient a(3) in the general formula of Table 2 should be plus instead of minus. Thus, the formula should read […] Usage example — not an attested quotation. 2001, Astronomy & Astrophysics, volume 376, issue 3, p. 1039
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Definition: Used to introduce a blunter, actually intended meaning. From a source of medium confidence.
broadly · ergative · humorous · imperative · ironic · usually
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
- Our school focuses primarily on the liberal arts (read "useless degrees"). Usage example — not an attested quotation.
- Eliminate illogical (read: stupid) answer choices. 2009, Suzee Vlk et al., The GRE Test for Dummies, 6th edition, Wiley Publishing, →ISBN, page 191:
- Parents, meanwhile, deplored [Bratz dolls] as far too adult (read: slutty) for kids, accusing the doe-eyed, pouty-lipped toys of fostering unhealthy body images among young girls. 2010 December 23, Tamara Weston, “From Tickle Me Elmo to Squinkies: Top 10 Toy Crazes”, in Time:
- I also did a long-wear test, as y'do and after scoffing my face with some food (read: I am feral when it comes to a midday snack, so what), the striking colour that I was wearing, named 'Jet', had stayed put. Pigment, check ✅. 2023 May 12, Lia Mappoura, “I tried Glossier's brand new G Suit lip crèmes so you don't have to – you're welcome”, in Cosmopolitan:
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Definition: To be able to hear what another person is saying over a radio connection. From a source of medium confidence.
transitive
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
- Do you read me? Usage example — not an attested quotation.
- Hello, HAL. Do you read me, HAL? 1968, Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey, spoken by Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea):
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Definition: To observe and comprehend (a displayed signal). From a source of medium confidence.
transitive
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
- A repeater signal may be used where the track geometry makes the main signal difficult to read from a distance. Usage example — not an attested quotation.
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Definition: To study (a subject) at a high level, especially at university. From a source of medium confidence.
Commonwealth · transitive
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
- I am reading theology at university. Usage example — not an attested quotation.
- Crabbe wanted him to go to England, to read for a degree there. 1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 94:
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Definition: To fetch data from (a storage medium, etc.). From a source of medium confidence.
transitive
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
- to read a hard disk Usage example — not an attested quotation.
- to read a port Usage example — not an attested quotation.
- to read the keyboard Usage example — not an attested quotation.
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Definition: To recognise (someone) as being transgender. From a source of medium confidence.
transitive
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
- Every time I go outside, I worry that someone will read me. Usage example — not an attested quotation.
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Definition: To call attention to the flaws of (someone) in a playful, taunting, or insulting way. From a source of medium confidence.
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
- I've seen drags "read" an unattractive transsexual until she was almost in tears. 1976 August 7, Tommi Avicolli, “The Politics of Camp”, in Gay Community News, page 9:
- Snapping, we are told, comes from reading, or exposing hidden flaws in a person's life, and out of reading comes shade […] Usage example — not an attested quotation. 1997, Framing Culture: Africanism, Sexuality and Performance, page 186 (also discussing Paris is Burning)
- CB [a black gay person being quoted]: "So, one time I read him and we were standing downstairs at the front desk in the dorm and I read him and there was this little bell […]." In the first example, the interviewee [CB] used snapping to read his white friend in a playful way, […]. 2003, Philip Auslander, Performance: Media and technology, page 179:
- [One] assumes that such language contests are racially motivated—black folks talking back to white folks. However, the ball world makes it clear that blacks can read each other too. Usage example — not an attested quotation. 2013, Queer Looks, page 114 (discussing Paris is Burning and "the ball world")
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Definition: To imagine sequences of potential moves and responses without actually placing stones. From a source of medium confidence.
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
No example is recorded for this sense.
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Definition: To think, believe; to consider (that). From a source of medium confidence.
obsolete
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
- But now, faire Ladie, comfort to you make, / And read[…] / That short reuenge the man may ouertake […] 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
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Definition: To advise; to counsel. See rede. From a source of medium confidence.
obsolete
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
- [T]herfore / I red the [thee] / gete the [thee] to Gods vvorde ãd [and] therby trye all doctrine and agenſt that receave nothinge. 1528 October 12 (Gregorian calendar), William Tyndale, “The .IIIJ. Senses of yͤ Scripture”, in The Obediẽce of a Christen Man […], [Antwerp]: [Johannes Hoochstraten], →OCLC, folio cxlvi, verso:
- This is the wandring wood, this Errours den, / A monster vile, whom God and man does hate: / Therefore I read beware. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 6:
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Definition: To tell; to declare; to recite. From a source of medium confidence.
obsolete
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
- But read how art thou named, and of what kin. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
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Definition: To predict another player's actions before they perform them or before they are apparent. From a source of medium confidence.
No translation has been attempted for this sense.
No example is recorded for this sense.
No paradigm has been compiled for this word yet.
Etymology: From Middle English reden, from Old English rǣdan (“to counsel, advise, consult; interpret, read”), from Proto-West Germanic *rādan, from Proto-Germanic *rēdaną (“advise, counsel”), from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₁dʰ- (“to arrange”). Cognate with Scots rede, red (“to advise, counsel, decipher, read”), Saterland Frisian räide (“to advise, counsel”), West Frisian riede (“to advise, counsel”), Dutch raden (“to advise; guess”), German raten (“to advise; guess”), Danish råde (“to advise”), Swedish råda (“to advise, counsel”), Persian رده (rade, “to order, to arrange, class”). In West Germanic the verb had a sense “interpret”, which developed further into “interpret letters” in English and “interpret by intuition, guess” on the continent. Compare rede. From a source of medium confidence.
No related word is recorded for this word.