read 
ME. reden, earlier rseden, rathen, rothen (a weak 
verb, piet.j-edde, radde, pp. red, rad, i-md), 
< J AS. (a) rxdan (a weak verb, pret. radde, pi. 
reeddon, pp. rieded, riedd, gerxd), mixed with 
(6) riedan, Anglian also redan, rethan (a strong 
redupl. verb, pret. reord, pp. rsede,n; found only 
in poet, or Anglian use), counsel, advise, con- 
sult, etc., read (a writing, whether aloud or to 
oneself), = OS. rddan (pret. red, pp. girddan), 
counsel, take counsel upon, provide, = OFries. 
reda (pret. red), counsel, = MD. D. raden, coun- 
sel, advise, interpret, guess, = MLG. rdten, LG. 
ratcn, counsel, advise, = OHG. rdtan, MHG. ra- 
ten, G. raten, rathen (pret. riet, rieth, pp. geraten, 
gerathen), counsel, advise, interpret, guess, = 
Icel. rddha (pret. redh, pp. radhinn), counsel, 
advise, etc., = Sw. rdda, counsel, advise, pre- 
vail, ra, can, may, = Dan. raade, counsel, rule, 
control, also interpret, = Goth, 'redan, in comp. 
ga-redan (pret. ya-rairoth), provide for; per- 
haps akin (having then an orig. present forma- 
tive -d) to L. reri (pp. ratus), think, deem, con- 
sider: see rate%, ratio, reason. Some compare 
Skt. %/ rddh, be successful, Russ. radii, glad, 
happy, ready, Lith. rodas, willing, etc. Hence 
read 1 , ., riddle*, aread, etc. The verb read in 
the already obsolete sense ' counsel, advise,' was 
much affected by Spenser, and in the early mod- 
ern and ME. spelling rede which he used has 
likewise been much affected by his archaizing 
imitators ; but there is no historical ground for 
a difference in spelling. The pret. read (red) 
should be written red, as it was formerly; it is 
exactly parallel with ted, pret. of lead 1 , and 
with let, pret. of lefl (inf. formerly lete, with 
long vowel).] I. trans. If. To counsel; ad- 
vise; recommend. 
And she thus brenneth bothe in love and drede, 
So that she nyste what was best to rede. 
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 679. 
And seththe he radde religioun the rule for to holde 
"Leste the kyug and his counsel! jor commits aneire, 
And beo stiward in oure stude til ge be stouwet betere." 
1'itrs Plowman (A), v. 38. 
We may read constancy and fortitude 
To other souls. B. Jonson, Poetaster, i. 1. 
If there 's a hole in a' your coats, 
I rede you tent it. 
Burnt, Captain Grose's Peregrinations. 
My Ladye reads you swith return. 
Scott, L. of L. M., iv. 22. 
2. To teach ; instil, as a lesson. 
Are these the arts, 
Robin, you read your rude ones of the wood, 
To countenance your quarrels and mistakings ? 
B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, 11. 2. 
3. To explain the meaning of; explain; inter- 
pret ; make out ; solve : as, to read a riddle ; 
to read a dream. 
Joseph, ... he that redde so 
The kynges raetynge, Pharao. 
Chaucer, Death of Blanche, 1. 281. 
Did you draw bonds to forfeit, sign to break ? 
Or must we read you quite from what you speak? 
Donne, Expostulation (ed. 1819). 
"I'll read your dream, sister," he says, 
"I'll read it into sorrow." 
The Braes o' Yarrow (Child's Ballads, III. 71). 
I can read my uncle's riddle. Scott, Waverley, Ixil. 
4f. To declare; tell; rehearse. 
That hast my name and nation redd aright. 
Spenser, F. Q., I. x. 67. 
5f. To suppose ; guess ; imagine ; fancy. 
Right hard it was for wight which did it heare 
To read what manner musicke that mote bee. 
Spenser, F. Q., II. xii. 70. (Kares.) 
6. To understand by observation or scrutiny ; 
acquire a knowledge of (something not other- 
wise obvious) by interpreting signs or indica- 
tions; study out; interpret: as, to read the signs 
of the times ; to read the sky or a person's 
countenance. 
Who is 't can read a woman ? 
Shale., Cymbeline, v. 5. 48. 
Let thy ambitions eye 
Read noble objects. Qttarles, Emblems, T. 8. 
7. To discover by observation or scrutiny ; per- 
ceive from signs or indications. 
Those about her 
From her shall read the perfect ways of honour. 
Shale., Hen. VIII., v. 6. 38. 
Let vs looke backe to Adam, who in this wicked fruit of 
his bodie might reade continuall lectures of repentance 
for the sinne of his soule. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 34. 
All the gazers on the skies 
Head not in fair heaven's story 
Expresser truth, or truer glory, 
Than they might in her bright eyes. 
B. Jonson, Epigrams, xl. 
4982 
If once the reality of the phenomena were established, 
we should all be able to read each other's secrets. 
Proc. Soc. Psych. Research, II. 10. 
8. (a) To observe and apprehend the meaning 
of (something written, printed, inscribed, or 
stamped in letters or other significant charac- 
ters) ; go over with the eyes (or, in the case of 
the blind, with the fingers) and take in the 
meaning of (significant characters forming or 
representing words or sentences) ; peruse : as, 
to read a book, newspaper, poem, inscription, 
or piece of music. 
He ... radde it over, and gan the letre fold. 
Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 1085. 
A man of Ethiopia . . . sitting in his chariot read Esaias 
the prophet. Acts viii. 27, 28. 
I heard of a late Secretary of State that could not read 
the next Morning his own Hand-writing. 
HoweU, Letters, I. v. 37. 
In his short life, and without ostentation, he [Shelley] 
had in truth read more Greek than many an aged pedant 
who, with pompous parade, prides himself upon this study 
alone. Hogg, in Dowden's Shelley, I. 73. 
(6) To note the indication of (a graduated in- 
strument): as, to read a thermometer or a 
circle. 0. To utter aloud: said of words or 
sounds represented by letters or other signifi- 
cant characters. 
The king . . . read in their ears all the words of the 
book of the covenant. 2 Ki. xxiii. 2. 
In their Synagogues they make one of the best sort to 
read a Chapter of Moses. HoweU, Letters, I. vL 14. 
10. To peruse or study (a subject in the books 
written about it); learn through reading: as, 
to read law or philosophy ; to read science for 
a degree; to read the news; we read that the 
meek shall inherit the earth. 
Chyffe of folis, men yn bokys redythe, 
Able yn his foly to holde residence, 
Ys he that nowther God louethe nor dredethe, 
Nor to his chyrche hathe none aduertence. 
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 79. 
At Iherico, as it is red, our Lord dyde many grete myra- 
cles. Sir Jt. Guylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 41. 
11. To perceive or assume in the reading or 
study of a book or writing (something not ex- 
pressed or directly indicated) ; impute or import 
by inference : as, to read a meaning in a book 
which the author did not intend ; to read one's 
own notions into a book; to read something 
between the lines. 
Nascent philosophy and dawning science are read into 
the sacred literature. Maine, Early Law and Custom, i. 
After their usual manner of speculating about primitive 
practices, men read back developed ideas into undeveloped 
minds. H. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., 346. 
12. To affect by reading so as to bring into a 
specified condition: as, to read a child asleep; 
to read one's self blind. 
No, no ; give him a Young Clark's Guide. What, we 
shall have you read yourself into a Humour of rambling 
and fighting, and studying military Discipline and wear- 
ing red Breeches. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, ill. 1. 
13f. To read about. 
Of the fynest stones faire 
That men rede in the Lapidaire. 
Chaucer, House of Fame, 1. 1352. 
To read (one) a chapter. See chapter. To read one's 
self in, in the Church of England, to read the Thirty-nine 
Articles of Religion, and repeat the Declaration of Assent 
(to the Articles, Prayer-book, and Ordinary) prescribed by 
law, which is required of every incumbent on the first 
Sunday on which he officiates in the church of his bene- 
fice, or on some other Sunday appointed and allowed by 
the ordinary. 
On the following Sunday Mr. Arabiu was to read him- 
self in at his new church. 
Trottope, Barchester Towers, xxii. 
To read out Of, to expel from, or declare no longer to 
belong to (some organization), by proclamation of any 
kind : as. to read a person out of a political party. 
II. intrans. If. To counsel ; advise ; give ad- 
vice or warning. 
"Syr," he seyd, "now haue I redd; 
Ete we now. and make vs glad, 
And euery man fie care." 
The Horn of King Arthur (Child's Ballads, I. 22). 
A monster vile whom God and man does hate : 
Therefore I read beware. Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 13. 
As for this carping girl, Iphigena, 
Take her with thee to bear thee company. 
And in my land I rede be seen no more. 
Greene, Alphonsus, iii. 
2f. To speak; discourse; declare; tell. 
Sojourned hath this Mars, of which I rede, 
In chambre amyd the paleys prively. 
Chaucer, Complaint of Mars, 1. 78. 
3. To peruse something written or printed; 
acquire information from a record of any kind. 
I have read of Caligula's Horse, that was made Consul. 
Hmcell, Letters, I. v. 37. 
To read well that is, to read true books in a true spirit 
is a noble exercise. Thoreau, Walden, p. 110. 
readable 
4. To utter aloud the words of something writ- 
ten or printed ; enunciate the words of a book 
or writing. 
So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly, 
and gave the sense. Neh. viii. 8. 
5. In mimic: (a) To perform or render music 
at first sight of the notes : applied to either vo- 
cal or instrumental performance: as, he plays 
well, but reads very slowly. (6) To perform or 
render music in a particular way ; put a certain 
expression upon it ; interpret it : used of a per- 
former or conductor. 6. To give a recital or 
lecture; rehearse something written or learned: 
as, to read before a public audience. 
For, if I take ye in hand, I shall dissect you, 
And read upon your phlegmatic dull carcases. 
Fletcher (and another), Elder Brother, iv. 8. 
7. To study systematically from books or writ- 
ings : sometimes with up. 
The Bachelors, most of them Scholars, reading for Fel- 
lowships, and nearly all of them private tutors. 
C. A. Bruited, English University, p. 36. 
Men should ... be compelled to read up on questions 
of the time, and give in public a reason for the faith which 
is in them. Harper's Mag., LXXVIH. 209. 
8. To appear on reading; have a (specified) 
meaning. 9. To have a certain quality or ef- 
fect in perusal ; used absolutely, to be suitable 
or desirable for perusal. 
Then again, his [Sheridan's] works, unlike those of 
Burke, do not read, possess no attractions, are not indis- 
pensable to the library. Jon Bee, Samuel Foote. 
The following passage, however, with some historical 
basis, reads rather curiously. Mind, XII. 624. 
To read between the lines, to detect a meaning or pur- 
pose not specifically expressed in a book or other writing ; 
discover some recondite motive or implication in what is 
read. To read by sound, in teleg., to make out the 
words or terms of a message from the sounds made by the 
instrument in transmitting it 
read 1 (red), p. a. [Pp. of readl, e.] Having 
knowledge gained from reading; instructed by 
reading; in general, versed: now usually with 
well : as, well read in the classics. 
You are all read in mysteries of state. 
Ford, Perkin Warbeck, 1L 8. 
An Oxford-Man, extremely read in Greek, 
Who from Euripides makes Phtedra speak. 
Prior, Epilogue to Phaedra, 
One cannot be trell read unless well seasoned in thought 
and experience. A. B. Alcott, Tablets, p. 134. 
read 1 (red), . [Early mod. E. also rede; < ME. 
rede, < AS. rxd = OS. rdd = OFries. red = D. 
raad = MLG. rdd, LG. rad = OHG. MHG. rat, 
G. rat, rath = Icel. rddh = Sw. rad = Dan. raad, 
counsel, advice ; from the orig. verb : see read 1 , 
r. In the sense ' counsel, advice,' the noun is 
used archaically, in the spelling rede, like the 
verb.] If. Counsel; advice. 
But who so wol nat trowen rede ne lore, 
I kan not sen in hym no remedie, 
But lat hym worchen with his fantasie. 
Chaucer, Troilus, v. 327. 
And whan the kynge was come to Cardoel, he sente after 
the men of hys counseile, and asked what was theire rede 
in this thinge. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 81. 
To whose wise read she hearkning sent me streight 
Into this land. Spenser, F. Q., VI. ii. SO. 
May yon better reck the rede 
Than ever did th' adviser ! 
Burns, Epistle to a Young Friend. 
2f. Interpretation. 
I repeated 
The read thereof for guerdon of my paine, 
And taking downe the shield with me did it retaine. 
Spenser, F. Q., IV. i. 10. 
3f. Speech; tale; narrative. 
Why then a final note prolong, 
Or lengthen out a closing song. 
Unless to bid the gentles speed, 
Who long have listened to my rede? 
Scott, Marmion, L'Envoy. 
4f. A saying; a proverb. 
This reede is ryfe, that oftentime 
Great clymbers fall unsoft. 
Spenser, Shep. Cal., July. 
5. Reading; perusal. [Colloq.] 
My first read of the newspaper. 
Thackeray, Great Hoggarty Diamond, x. 
I got the other day a hasty read of your "Scenes of Cler- 
ical Life." E. Ball, in Cross's George Eliot, II. ix. 
read'-'t, ". An obsolete form of red 1 . 
read 3 (red), t\ t. A dialectal form of red 3 . 
readability (re-da-bil'i-ti), n. [< readable + 
-tty (see -wMrjr).] Readableness. 
readable (re'da-bl), a. [< readl + -able.] 1. 
Capable of being read ; legible. 2. Of suffi- 
cient interest to be read ; worth reading; easy 
or interesting to read : as, a readable story. 
Nobody except editors and school-teachers and here and 
there a literary man knows how common is the capacity of 
rhyming and prattling in readable prose. 
0. W. Holmes, Poet at the Breakfast- Table. 
