On their embattled ranks the waves return. --Milton.
If they returned out of bondage, it must be into a
state of freedom. --Locke.
Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
--Gen. iii.
19.
2. To come back, or begin again, after an interval, regular
or irregular; to appear again.
With the year Seasons return; but not me returns Day
or the sweet approach of even or morn. --Milton.
3. To speak in answer; to reply; to respond.
He said, and thus the queen of heaven returned.
--Pope.
4. To revert; to pass back into possession.
And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the
kingdom return to the house of David. --1Kings xii.
26.
5. To go back in thought, narration, or argument. ``But to
return to my story.'' --Fielding.
Both fled attonce, ne ever back returned eye.
--Spenser.
2. To repay; as, to return borrowed money.
3. To give in requital or recompense; to requite.
The Lord shall return thy wickedness upon thine own
head. --1 Kings ii.
44.
4. To give back in reply; as, to return an answer; to return
thanks.
5. To retort; to throw back; as, to return the lie.
If you are a malicious reader, you return upon me,
that I affect to be thought more impartial than I
am. --Dryden.
6. To report, or bring back and make known.
And all the people answered together, . . . and
Moses returned the words of the people unto the
Lord. --Ex. xix. 8.
7. To render, as an account, usually an official account, to
a superior; to report officially by a list or statement;
as, to return a list of stores, of killed or wounded; to
return the result of an election.
8. Hence, to elect according to the official report of the
election officers. [Eng.]
9. To bring or send back to a tribunal, or to an office, with
a certificate of what has been done; as, to return a writ.
10. To convey into official custody, or to a general
depository.
Instead of a ship, he should levy money, and return
the same to the treasurer for his majesty's use.
--Clarendon.
11. (Tennis) To bat (the ball) back over the net.
12. (Card Playing) To lead in response to the lead of one's
partner; as, to return a trump; to return a diamond for a
club.
{To return a lead} (Card Playing), to lead the same suit led
by one's partner.
Syn: To restore; requite; repay; recompense; render; remit;
report.
At the return of the year the king of Syria will
come up against thee. --1 Kings xx.
22.
His personal return was most required and necessary.
--Shak.
2. The act of returning (transitive), or sending back to the
same place or condition; restitution; repayment; requital;
retribution; as, the return of anything borrowed, as a
book or money; a good return in tennis.
You made my liberty your late request: Is no return
due from a grateful breast? --Dryden.
3. That which is returned. Specifically:
(a) A payment; a remittance; a requital.
I do expect return Of thrice three times the
value of this bond. --Shak.
(b) An answer; as, a return to one's question.
(c) An account, or formal report, of an action performed,
of a duty discharged, of facts or statistics, and the
like; as, election returns; a return of the amount of
goods produced or sold; especially, in the plural, a
set of tabulated statistics prepared for general
information.
(d) The profit on, or advantage received from, labor, or
an investment, undertaking, adventure, etc.
The fruit from many days of recreation is very
little; but from these few hours we spend in
prayer, the return is great. --Jer. Taylor.
4. (Arch.) The continuation in a different direction, most
often at a right angle, of a building, face of a building,
or any member, as a molding or mold; -- applied to the
shorter in contradistinction to the longer; thus, a facade
of sixty feet east and west has a return of twenty feet
north and south.
5. (Law)
(a) The rendering back or delivery of writ, precept, or
execution, to the proper officer or court.
(b) The certificate of an officer stating what he has done
in execution of a writ, precept, etc., indorsed on the
document.
(c) The sending back of a commission with the certificate
of the commissioners.
(d) A day in bank. See {Return day}, below. --Blackstone.
6. (Mil. & Naval) An official account, report, or statement,
rendered to the commander or other superior officer; as,
the return of men fit for duty; the return of the number
of the sick; the return of provisions, etc.
7. pl. (Fort. & Mining) The turnings and windings of a trench
or mine.
{Return ball}, a ball held by an elastic string so that it
returns to the hand from which it is thrown, -- used as a
plaything.
{Return bend}, a pipe fitting for connecting the contiguous
ends of two nearly parallel pipes lying alongside or one
above another.
{Return day} (Law), the day when the defendant is to appear
in court, and the sheriff is to return the writ and his
proceedings.
{Return flue}, in a steam boiler, a flue which conducts flame
or gases of combustion in a direction contrary to their
previous movement in another flue.
{Return pipe} (Steam Heating), a pipe by which water of
condensation from a heater or radiator is conveyed back
toward the boiler.