Verb

(en verb)

(ambitransitive) To make a reply or response to.

* Bible, 1 Kings xviii. 26

There was no voice, nor any that answered .

* Shakespeare

She answers him as if she knew his mind.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=“Well,” I answered , at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.}}

To speak in defence against; to reply to in defence.

to answer a charge or accusation

(ambitransitive) To respond to a call by someone at a door or telephone, or other similar piece of equipment.

Nobody answered when I knocked on the door.

To suit a need or purpose satisfactorily.

* Alexander Ellis

Of course for publication in a newspaper, my palaeotype would not answer , but my glossotype would enable the author to give his Pennsylvania German in an English form and much more intelligibly.

* 1903 , , (The Way of All Flesh) , Ch. 41

Theobald spoke as if watches had half-a-dozen purposes besides time-keeping, but he could hardly open his mouth without using one or other of his tags, and "answering every purpose" was one of them.

To be accountable or responsible; to make amends.

The man must answer to his employer for the money entrusted to his care.

* Shakespeare

Let his neck answer for it, if there is any martial law.

(legal) To file a document in response to a complaint.

To correspond to; to be in harmony with; to be in agreement with.

* 1775 , (Richard Brinsley Sheridan), (The Duenna) , Act 2, Scene 2

I wish she had answered her picture as well.

* B. Edwards

The use of dunder in the making of rum answers the purpose of yeast in the fermentation of flour.

To be opposite, or to act in opposition.

* Gilpin

The windows answering each other, we could just discern the glowing horizon through them.

To be or act in conformity, or by way of accommodation, correspondence, relation, or proportion; to conform; to correspond; to suit; usually with to .

* Jonathan Swift

Weapons must needs be dangerous things, if they answered the bulk of so prodigious a person.

* Shakespeare

That the time may have all shadow and silence in it, and the place answer to convenience.

* Shakespeare

If this but answer to my just belief, / I'll remember you.

* Bible, Proverbs xxvii. 19

As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.

To respond to satisfactorily; to meet successfully by way of explanation, argument, or justification; to refute.

* Bible, Matt. xxii. 46

No man was able to answer him a word.

* Milton

These shifts refuted, answer thine appellant.

* Macaulay

The reasoning was not and could not be answered .

To be or act in compliance with, in fulfillment or satisfaction of, as an order, obligation, or demand.

He answered my claim upon him.

The servant answered the bell.

* Shakespeare

This proud king studies day and night / To answer all the debts he owes unto you.

(obsolete) To render account to or for.

* Shakespeare

I will send him to answer thee.

(obsolete) To atone; to be punished for.

* Shakespeare

And grievously hath Caesar answered it.

(obsolete) To be or act as an equivalent to, or as adequate or sufficient for; to serve for; to repay.

* Bible, Eccles. x. 19

Money answereth all things.

Verb

(lb) To count, reckon, or enumerate.

:

*1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , II.vii:

*:And in his lap a masse of coyne he told , / And turned vpsidowne, to feede his eye / A couetous desire with his huge threasury.

*1875 , Hugh MacMillan, The Sunday Magazine :

*:Only He who made them can tell the number of the stars, and mark the place of each in the order of the one great dominant spiral.

(lb) To narrate.

:

*, chapter=7

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=“

(lb) To convey by speech; to say.

:

*, chapter=4

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.}}

(lb) To instruct or inform.

:

*Bible, (w) xii. 18

*:Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud,

(lb) To order; to direct, to say to someone.

:

*(Charles Dickens) (1812-1870)

*:He told her not to be frightened.

*'>citation

*:Stability was restored, but once the re-entry propulsion was activated, the crew was told to prepare to come home before the end of their only day in orbit.

(lb) To discern, notice, identify or distinguish.

:

*

*:Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.

(lb) To reveal.

:

(lb) To be revealed.

*1990 , (Stephen Coonts), Under Siege, 1991 (Pocket Books) edition, ISBN 0671742949, p.409:

*:Cherry looks old, Mergenthaler told himself. His age is telling . Querulous — that's the word. He's become a whining, querulous old man absorbed with trivialities.

(lb) To have an effect, especially a noticeable one; to be apparent, to be demonstrated.

:

*1859 (John Stuart Mill), (On Liberty)

*:Opinion ought [… to give] merited honour to every one, whatever opinion he may holdkeeping nothing back which tells', or can be supposed to ' tell , in their favour.

*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 18, author=Ben Dirs, work=BBC Sport

, title= Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia , passage=But England's superior fitness told in the second half, with Delon Armitage, Manu Tuilagi and Chris Ashton (two) going over for tries to secure a bonus-point win.}}