Verb

To pronounce.

To recite.

* , chapter=5

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.}}

To communicate, either verbally or in writing.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.}}

* {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)

, chapter=1 citation , passage=She was like a Beardsley Salome , he had said . And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.}}

To indicate in a written form.

(impersonal) To have a common expression; (used in singular passive voice or plural active voice to indicate a rumor or well-known fact).

* 1815 , :

They say that Hope is happiness; But genuine Love must prize the past.

* 1819 , Great Britain Court of Chancery, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery , page 8:

It is said , a bargain cannot be set aside upon inadequacy only.

* 1841 , Christopher Marshall, The Knickerbocker (New-York Monthly Magazine) , page 379:

It’s said that fifteen wagon loads of ready-made clothes for the Virginia troops came to, and stay in, town to-night.

(informal, imperative) Let's say; used to mark an example, supposition or hypothesis.

* 1984 , (Martin Amis), Money: a suicide note?

I've followed Selina down the strip, when we're shopping, say , and she strolls on ahead, wearing sawn-off jeans and a wash-withered T-shirt

To speak; to express an opinion; to make answer; to reply.

* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

You have said ; but whether wisely or no, let the forest judge.

* (John Milton) (1608-1674)

To this argument we shall soon have said ; for what concerns it us to hear a husband divulge his household privacies?

.

*

Verb

(en verb)

To try; to assay.

(Ben Jonson)

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.