–verb (used without object)

1.	to go or come back, as to a former place, position, or state: to return from abroad; to return to public office; to return to work.

2.	to revert to a former owner: The money I gave him returns to me in the event of his death.

3.	to revert or recur, as in thought, discourse, etc.: He returned to his story.

4.	to make a reply or retort: She returned with a witty sally.

–verb (used with object)

5.	to put, bring, take, give, or send back to the original place, position, etc.: to return a book to a shelf; to return a child to her mother; to return the switch to off position.

6.	to send or give back in reciprocation, recompense, or requital: to return evil for good.

7.	to reciprocate, repay, or react to (something sent, given, done, etc.) with something similar: to return the enemy's fire; to return a favor.

8.	Law. a. to give to a judge or official (a statement or a writ of actions done). b. to render (a verdict, decision, etc.).

9.	to reflect (light, sound, etc.).

10.	to yield (a profit, revenue, etc.), as in return for labor, expenditure, or investment.

11.	to report or announce officially: to return a list of members.

12.	to elect, as to a legislative body: The voters returned him to office by a landslide. < 475 /td>

13.	Military. to put (a weapon) back into its holder.

14.	Cards. to respond to (a suit led) by a similar lead: She returned diamonds.

15.	to turn back or in the reverse direction, as a served ball in tennis.

16.	Chiefly Architecture. to cause to turn or proceed in a different direction from the previous line of direction; reverse: to return a cornice at each end of a façade.

–noun

17.	the act or fact of returning as by going or coming back or bringing, sending, or 6eb giving back: We should appreciate your return of the book immediately.

18.	a recurrence: the return of the moon each month.

19.	reciprocation, repayment, or requital: profits in return for outlay.

20.	response or reply.

21.	a person or thing that is returned: returns of mill goods.

22.	the gain realized on an exchange of goods.

23.	Often, returns. a yield or profit, as from labor, land, business, or investment: He received a quick return on his money.

24.	Also called tax return. a statement, on an officially prescribed form, of income, deductions, exemptions, etc., and taxes due.

25.	Usually, returns. an official or unofficial report on a count of votes, candidates elected, etc.: election re 973 turns.

26.	Chiefly British. return ticket (def. 2).

27.	Architecture. a. the continuation of a molding, projection, etc., in a different direction. b. a side or part that falls away from the front of any straight or flat member or area.

28.	a tablelike extension attached at a right angle to a desk at typing height, for holding a typewriter, computer, etc.

29.	a key or lever on a typewriter or other business machine that returns the carriage to the extreme right, or the typing element to the extreme left, for the beginning of a new line.

30.	Computers. See under carriage return (def. 2).

31.	Sports. a. the act of returning a ball. b. the ball that is returned.

32.	Football. a runback of a kick, intercepted pass, or fumble recovery.

33.	Economics. yield per unit a 3e8 s compared to the cost per unit involved in a specific industrial process.

34.

Law. a. the bringing or sending back of various documents, such as a writ, summons, or subpoena, with a brief written report usually endorsed upon it, by a sheriff, to the court from which it issued. b. a certified document by a great variety of officers, as assessors, collectors, and election officers. c. the report or certificate endorsed in such documents.

35.	Cards. a lead that responds to a part bba ner's lead.

36.	Theater. a flat or drapery parallel to the tormentor for masking the offstage area and often completing the downstage part of a set.

37.	returns, a. merchandise shipped back to a supplier from a retailer or distributor as unsold or unsalable. b. merchandise returned to a retailer by a consumer.

–adjective

38.	of or pertaining to a return or returning: a return trip.

39.	sent, given, or done in return: a return shot.

40.	done or occurring again: a return engagement of the opera.

41.	noting a person or thing that is returned or returning to a place: return cargo.

42.	changing in direction; doubling or returning on itself: a return twist in a road.

43.	used for returning, recirculating, etc.: the return road; a return pipe.

44.	(of a game) played in order to provide the loser of an earlier game with the opportunity to win from the same opponent: return match.

45.	adequate, necessary, or provided to enable the return of a mailed package or letter to its sender: return postage guaranteed; return address; return envelope.

–definite article

1.	(used, esp. before a noun, with a specifying or particularizing effect, as opposed to the indefinite or generalizing force of the indefinite article a or an): the book you gave me; Come into the house.

2.	(used to mark a proper noun, natural phenomenon, ship, building, time, point of the compass, branch of endeavor, or field of study as something well-known or unique): the sun; the Alps; the Queen Elizabeth; the past; the West.

3.	(used with or as part of a title): the Duke of Wellington; the Reverend John Smith.

4.	(used to mark a noun as indicating the best-known, most approved, most important, most satisfying, etc.): the skiing center of the U.S.; If you're going to work hard, now is the time.

5.	(used to mark a noun as being used generically): The dog is a quadruped.

6.	(used in place of a possessive pronoun, to note a part of the body or a personal belonging): He won't be able to play football until the leg mends.

7.	(used before adjectives that are used substantively, to note an individual, a class or number of individuals, or an abstract idea): to visit the sick; from the sublime to the ridiculous.

8.	(used before a modifying adjective to specify or limit its modifying effect): He took the wrong road and drove miles out of his way.

9.	(used to indicate one particular decade of a lifetime or of a century): the sixties; the gay nineties.

10.	(one of many of a class or type, as of a manufactured item, as opposed to an individual one): Did you listen to the radio last night?

11.	enough: He saved until he had the money for a new car. She didn't have the courage to leave.

12.	(used distributively, to note any one separately) for, to, or in each; a or an: at one dollar the pound.

–noun

1.	a male sovereign or monarch; a man who holds by life tenure, and usually by hereditary right, the chief authority over a country and people.

2.	(initial capital letter) God or Christ.

3.	a person or thing preeminent in its class: a king of actors.

4.	a playing card bearing a picture of a king.

5.	Chess. the chief piece of each color, whose checkmating is the object of the game; moved one square at a time in any direction.

6.	Checkers. a piece that has been moved entirely across the board and has been crowned, thus allowing it to be moved in any direction.

7.	Entomology. a fertile male termite.

8.	a word formerly used in communications to represent the letter K.

–verb (used with object)

9.	to make a king of; cause to be or become a king; crown.

10.	Informal. to design or make (a product) king-size: The tobacco company is going to king its cigarettes.

–verb (used without object)

11.	to reign as king.

–adjective

12.	Informal. king-size.

—Verb phrase

13.	king it, to play the king; behave in an imperious or pretentious manner: He kinged it over all the other kids on the block.