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Return vs Leave - What's the difference?

return | leave |

In intransitive terms the difference between return and leave

is that return is to go back in thought, narration, or argument while leave is to depart; to go away from a certain place or state.

In intransitive obsolete terms the difference between return and leave

is that return is to turn back, retreat while leave is to remain (behind); to stay.

In transitive terms the difference between return and leave

is that return is to report, or bring back and make known while leave is to give leave to; allow; permit; let; grant.

In cricket terms the difference between return and leave

is that return is a throw from a fielder to the wicket-keeper or to another fielder at the wicket while leave is the action of the batsman not attempting to play at the ball.

return

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To come or go back (to a place or person).
  • :
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.}}
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=19 citation , passage=As soon as Julia returned with a constable, Timothy, who was on the point of exhaustion, prepared to give over to him gratefully. The newcomer turned out to be a powerful youngster, fully trained and eager to help, and he stripped off his tunic at once.}}
  • To go back in thought, narration, or argument.
  • :
  • (obsolete) To turn back, retreat.
  • *, Bk.V:
  • *:‘I suppose here is none woll be glad to returne – and as for me,’ seyde Sir Cador, ‘I had lever dye this day that onys to turne my bak.’
  • (obsolete) To turn (something) round.
  • *, Bk.X, Ch.xiij:
  • *:Whan Kyng Marke harde hym sey that worde, he returned his horse and abode by hym.
  • To put (place) something back where it had been.
  • :
  • To give something back to its original holder or owner.
  • :
  • To take something back to a retailer for a refund.
  • :
  • To give in requital or recompense; to requite.
  • *Bible, 1 Kings ii.44
  • *:The Lord shall return thy wickedness upon thine own head.
  • (tennis) To bat the ball back over the net in response to a serve.
  • :
  • (card games) To play a card as a result of another player's lead.
  • :
  • (cricket) To throw a ball back to the wicket-keeper (or a fielder at that position) from somewhere in the field.
  • To say in reply; to respond.
  • :to return''' an answer;  to '''return thanks
  • *1897 , (Henry James), (What Maisie Knew)
  • *:‘Ah my good friend, I do look out!’ the young man returned while Maisie helped herself afresh to bread and butter.
  • (computing) To relinquish control to the calling procedure.
  • (computing) To pass (data) back to the calling procedure.
  • :
  • (dated) To retort; to throw back.
  • :to return the lie
  • *Dryden
  • *:If you are a malicious reader, you return upon me, that I affect to be thought more impartial than I am.
  • To report, or bring back and make known.
  • :to return the result of an election
  • *Bible, Exodus xix.8
  • *:And all the people answered together,and Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord.
  • (by extension, UK) To elect according to the official report of the election officers.
  • Derived terms

    (Terms derived from the verb "return") * return to form

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of returning.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town. I was completely mystified at such an unusual proceeding.}}
  • A return ticket.
  • An item that is returned, e.g. due to a defect, or the act of returning it.
  • An answer.
  • a return to one's question
  • An account, or formal report, of an action performed, of a duty discharged, of facts or statistics, etc.; especially, in the plural, a set of tabulated statistics prepared for general information.
  • election returns'''; a '''return of the amount of goods produced or sold
  • Gain or loss from an investment.
  • * Jeremy Taylor
  • The fruit from many days of recreation is very little; but from these few hours we spend in prayer, the return is great.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=April 22, author=Sam Sheringham, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Liverpool 0-1 West Brom , passage=Liverpool have now won only five of their 17 home league games this season. It is a poor return for a team of Liverpool's pedigree and resources but, once again, Kenny Dalglish's team were the instigators of their own downfall as chance after chance went begging.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-06, volume=408, issue=8843, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The rise of smart beta , passage=Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return' of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of ' return .}}
  • (taxation, finance): A report of income submitted to a government for purposes of specifying exact tax payment amounts. A tax return.
  • (computing) A carriage return character.
  • (computing) The act of relinquishing control to the calling procedure.
  • (computing) A return value: the data passed back from a called procedure.
  • A short perpendicular extension of a desk, usually slightly lower.
  • (American football) Catching a ball after a punt and running it back towards the opposing team.
  • (cricket) A throw from a fielder to the wicket-keeper or to another fielder at the wicket.
  • The continuation in a different direction, most often at a right angle, of a building, face of a building, or any member, such as a moulding; applied to the shorter in contradistinction to the longer.
  • A facade of sixty feet east and west has a return of twenty feet north and south.

    Synonyms

    * (l)

    Derived terms

    (Terms derived from the noun "return") * abnormal return * absolute return * active return * amended return * annual return * carriage return * day return * dollar return * exante return * excess return * expected return * exponential return * false return * hard return * in return * information return * joint return * many happy returns * market return * mean return * non-return * point of no return * rate of return * real return * relative return * return address * return crease * return day * return extrasystole * return flow * return key * return of capital * return on assests * return on capital emlpoyed * return on equity * return on invested capital * return on investment * return on net assets * return on sales * return stroke * return ticket * return to form * Return To Zero * return address * risk-adjsuted return * risk-free return * risk-return tradeoff * safety-net return/safety net return * soft return * subperiod return * tax return * total return * venous return

    Statistics

    *

    leave

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) leven, from (etyl) (whence Danish levne). More at .

    Verb

  • To have a consequence or remnant.
  • #To cause or allow (something) to remain as available; to refrain from taking (something) away; to stop short of consuming or otherwise depleting (something) entirely.
  • #:
  • #*, chapter=7
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=[…] St.?Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.}}
  • #*{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan
  • , title= Wild Plants to the Rescue , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.
  • #To cause, to result in.
  • #:
  • #*{{quote-book, year=1899, author=(Stephen Crane)
  • , title=, chapter=1 , passage=There was some laughter, and Roddle was left free to expand his ideas on the periodic visits of cowboys to the town. “Mason Rickets, he had ten big punkins a-sittin' in front of his store, an' them fellers from the Upside-down-F ranch shot 'em up
  • #*, chapter=23
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.}}
  • #*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Out of the gloom , passage=[Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.}}
  • #(lb) To put; to place; to deposit; to deliver, with a sense of withdrawing oneself.
  • #:
  • #*Bible, (w) v. 24
  • #*:Leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way.
  • #*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • #*:The foot / That leaves the print of blood where'er it walks.
  • (lb) To depart; to separate from.
  • #To let be or do without interference.
  • #:
  • #(lb) To depart from; to end one's connection or affiliation with.
  • #:
  • #*
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.}}
  • #(lb) To end one's membership in (a group); to terminate one's affiliation with (an organization); to stop participating in (a project).
  • #:
  • #(lb) To depart; to go away from a certain place or state.
  • #:
  • (lb) To transfer something.
  • #(lb) To transfer possession of after death.
  • #:
  • #(lb) To give (something) to someone; to deliver (something) to a repository; to deposit.
  • #:
  • #(lb) To transfer responsibility or attention of (something) (to someone); to stop being concerned with.
  • #:
  • To remain (behind); to stay.
  • *:
  • *:And whanne sire launcelot sawe them fare soo / he gat a spere in his hand / and there encountred with hym al attones syr bors sir Ector and sire Lyonel / and alle they thre smote hym atte ones with their speres // and by mysfortune sir bors smote syre launcelot thurgh the shelde in to the syde / and the spere brake / and the hede lefte stylle in his syde
  • *
  • *:Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers,. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.
  • To stop, desist from; to "leave off" (+ noun / gerund).
  • *1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , (w) V:
  • *:When he had leeft speakynge, he sayde vnto Simon: Cary vs into the depe, and lett slippe thy nette to make a draught.
  • *(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • *:Now leave complaining and begin your tea.
  • Synonyms
    * (sense, to end one's connection with) depart, forget, leave behind
    Derived terms
    * beleave * forleave * leave behind * leave for dead * leave no stone unturned * leave nothing in the tank * leave someone hanging * leave someone high and dry * leave someone holding the bag * leave off * leave out * leave in the lurch * leave well enough alone * not leave one's thought * overleave * up and leave

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (cricket) The action of the batsman not attempting to play at the ball.
  • (billiards) The arrangement of balls in play that remains after a shot is made (which determines whether the next shooter — who may be either the same player, or an opponent — has good options, or only poor ones).
  • * 1890 February 27, "Slosson's Close Shave"], in [[w:New York Times, The New York Times] :
  • Having counted 38 points he tried a beautiful out of the corner, hit the first ball just a trife too hard and kissed his own ball off just when victory seemed to be his. The leave was unfortunate for Ives. Slosson played brilliantly and ran the game out, a close winner, with 22 points.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) leve, from (etyl) . Related to (etyl) verlof, (etyl) Erlaubnis. See also (l).

    Noun

    (-)
  • Permission to be absent; time away from one's work.
  • I've been given three weeks' leave by my boss.
  • (senseid)(dated, or, legal) Permission.
  • Might I beg leave to accompany you?
    The applicant now seeks leave to appeal and, if leave be granted, to appeal against these sentences.
  • (dated) Farewell, departure.
  • I took my leave of the gentleman without a backward glance.
    Derived terms
    * administrative leave * annual leave * by your leave * compassionate leave * leave of absence * maternity leave * on leave * parental leave * paternity leave * shore leave * sick leave * take French leave * take leave * ticket-of-leave

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) leven, from (etyl) .

    Verb

  • To give leave to; allow; permit; let; grant.
  • Etymology 4

    From (etyl) leven, from . More at (l).

    Verb

  • (rare) To produce leaves or foliage.Oxford English Dictionary , 2nd ed.
  • * 1868 , , The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám , 2nd edition:
  • Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say:
    Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday?
    Synonyms
    * leaf (verb)

    Etymology 5

    See levy.

    Verb

  • (obsolete) To raise; to levy.
  • * Spenser
  • An army strong she leaved .

    References

    * *