Definition of "read"

read¹

/ɹiːd/

verb
third-person singular simple present reads, present participle reading, simple past read, past participle read or (archaic, dialectal) readen
1. (transitive or intransitive) To look at and interpret letters or other information that is written.
  Quotations
  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., page 112
2. (transitive or intransitive) To speak aloud words or other information that is written. (often construed with a to phrase or an indirect object)
  Quotations
  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.
  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. […]
  1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎
3. (transitive) To read work(s) written by (a named author).
4. (transitive) To interpret, or infer a meaning, significance, thought, intention, etc., from.
5. To consist of certain text.
6. (ergative) Of text, etc., to be interpreted or read in a particular way.
7. (transitive, frequently humorous) To substitute (a corrected piece of text in place of an erroneous one); used to introduce an emendation of a text.
  Quotations
  In Livy, it is nearly certain that for Pylleon we should read Pteleon, as this place is mentioned in connection with Antron.
  1832, John Lemprière et al., Bibliotheca classica, Seventh Edition, W. E. Dean, page 263
8. (informal, usually ironic) Used after a euphemism to introduce the intended, more blunt meaning of a term.
  Quotations
  Eliminate illogical (read: stupid) answer choices.
  2009, Suzee Vlk et al., The GRE Test for Dummies, 6th edition, Wiley Publishing, page 191
9. (transitive, telecommunications) To be able to hear what another person is saying over a radio connection.
  Quotations
  Hello, HAL. Do you read me, HAL?
  1968, Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey, spoken by Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea)
10. (transitive, rail transport) To observe and comprehend (a displayed signal).
11. (transitive, Commonwealth, except Scotland) To make a special study of, as by perusing textbooks.
  Quotations
  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
12. (computing, transitive) To fetch data from (a storage medium, etc.).
13. (transitive, LGBT) To recognise (someone) as being transgender.
14. (at first especially in the black LGBT community) To call attention to the flaws of (someone) in either a playful, a taunting, or an insulting way.
  Quotations
  Snapping, we are told, comes from reading, or exposing hidden flaws in a person's life, and out of reading comes shade […]
  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.
  2013, Queer Looks, page 114 (discussing Paris is Burning and "the ball world")
15. (go) To imagine sequences of potential moves and responses without actually placing stones.
16. (obsolete) To think, believe; to consider (that).
  Quotations
  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
17. (obsolete) To advise; to counsel. See rede.
  Quotations
  [T]herfore, I red the [thee], gette the [thee] to gods vvorde and thereby trye all doctrine, and agaynſte that receaue no thinge.
  1528 October 12 (Gregorian calendar), Willyam Tyndale [i.e., William Tyndale], “Of the Sacramentes”, in The Obedience of [a] Christen Man, […], [London: […] Thomas Ranalde and Wyllyam Hyll, and are to be solde […] by Rychard Iugge […]], published , folio clvii, 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, page 6
18. (obsolete) To tell; to declare; to recite.
  Quotations
  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
noun
plural reads
1. A reading or an act of reading, especially of an actor's part of a play or a piece of stored data.
  Quotations
  One newswoman here lets magazines for a penny a read.
  1879, Frederick James Furnivall, letter to the editor of "The Spectator"
  And when he finishes supper / Planning to have a read at the evening paper / It's Put a screw in this wall— / He has no time at all […]
  1958, Philip Larkin, Self's the Man
  In other words, the system can do 1200 reads per second with no writes, the average write is twice as slow as the average read, and the relationship is linear.
  2006, MySQL administrator's guide and language reference, page 393
2. (in combination) Something to be read; a written work.
3. A person's interpretation or impression of something.
4. (at first especially in the black LGBT community) An instance of reading (“calling attention to someone's flaws; a taunt or insult”).
  Quotations
  [As] Corey points out, "if you and I are both black queens then we can't call each other black queens because that's not a read. That's a [fact]."
  1997, Framing Culture: Africanism, Sexuality and Performance, page 186 (also discussing Paris is Burning)
  Like most African-American women, Pearlie Mae uses snapping in many of the same ways that black gay men use it: to accentuate a read.
  2003, Philip Auslander, Performance: Media and technology, page 185
  I learned that it was acceptable to be witty, especially if you were one of the wearblackallthetime, deconstructivist, radical, feministbitchydiva girls who could give a harsh read (i.e., critique) or throw shade […] .
  2013, bell hooks, Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom
5. (biochemistry) The identification of a specific sequence of genes in a genome or bases in a nucleic acid string

read²

/ɹɛd/

verb
1. inflection of read:
  1. simple past tense
  2. past participle

Definition of "read"

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verb

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read2

verb

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