v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Returned p. pr. & vb. n. Returning. ] [ OE. returnen, retournen, F. retourner; pref. re- re- + tourner to turn. See Turn. ] 1. To turn back; to go or come again to the same place or condition. “Return to your father's house.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

On their embattled ranks the waves return. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

If they returned out of bondage, it must be into a state of freedom. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Gen. iii. 19. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To come back, or begin again, after an interval, regular or irregular; to appear again. [ 1913 Webster ]

With the year
Seasons return; but not me returns
Day or the sweet approach of even or morn. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To speak in answer; to reply; to respond. [ 1913 Webster ]

He said, and thus the queen of heaven returned. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To revert; to pass back into possession. [ 1913 Webster ]

And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David. 1Kings xii. 26. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To go back in thought, narration, or argument. “But to return to my story.” Fielding. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To bring, carry, send, or turn, back; as, to return a borrowed book, or a hired horse. [ 1913 Webster ]

Both fled attonce, ne ever back returned eye. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To repay; as, to return borrowed money. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To give in requital or recompense; to requite. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Lord shall return thy wickedness upon thine own head. 1 Kings ii. 44. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To give back in reply; as, to return an answer; to return thanks. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To retort; to throw back; as, to return the lie. [ 1913 Webster ]

If you are a malicious reader, you return upon me, that I affect to be thought more impartial than I am. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To report, or bring back and make known. [ 1913 Webster ]

And all the people answered together, . . . and Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord. Ex. xix. 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. Hence, to elect according to the official report of the election officers. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. To convey into official custody, or to a general depository. [ 1913 Webster ]

Instead of a ship, he should levy money, and return the same to the treasurer for his majesty's use. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. (Tennis) To bat (the ball) back over the net. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

To return a lead (Card Playing), to lead the same suit led by one's partner. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To restore; requite; repay; recompense; render; remit; report. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of returning (intransitive), or coming back to the same place or condition; as, the return of one long absent; the return of health; the return of the seasons, or of an anniversary. [ 1913 Webster ]

At the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee. 1 Kings xx. 22. [ 1913 Webster ]

His personal return was most required and necessary. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

You made my liberty your late request:
Is no return due from a grateful breast? Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which is returned. Specifically: (a) A payment; a remittance; a requital. [ 1913 Webster ]

I do expect return
Of thrice three times the value of this bond. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

(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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. pl. (Fort. & Mining) The turnings and windings of a trench or mine. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Capable of, or admitting of, being returned. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) Legally required to be returned, delivered, given, or rendered; as, a writ or precept returnable at a certain day; a verdict returnable to the court. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who returns. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Admitting no return. Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]