receive
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɹɪˈsiːv/
rhymes: -iːv
Forms: form: receives
form: receiving
form: received
form: received
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: receive
form: receive
form: received
form: receive
form: receivest
form: received
form: receivedst
form: receives
form: receiveth
form: received
form: receive
form: received
form: receive
form: received
form: receive
form: -
form: receiving
form: received
form: receave
form: receyve
Etymology: From Middle English receyven, from Old French receivre, from Latin recipere (“take back, accept, etc.”), from re- (“back”) + capiō (“to take”); see capacious. Compare conceive, deceive, perceive. Displaced native Middle English terms in -fon/-fangen (e.g. afon, anfon, afangen, underfangen, etc. "to receive" from Old English -fōn), native Middle English thiggen (“to receive”) (from Old English þiċġan), and non-native Middle English aquilen, enquilen (“to receive”) (from Old French aquillir, encueillir).
Senses: examples: text: He received many presents for his birthday.
text: Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 305:
text: In America alone, people spent $170 billion on "direct marketing"—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result.
ref: 2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8837, London: Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 May 2013, page 74:
glosses: To be given, sent, or paid something.
examples: text: He had the offer of employment, but he would not receive it.
text: Our hearts receiue your warnings.
ref: c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 235, column 1:
text: The idea of solidity we receive by our touch.
ref: 1689, John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding:
text: [T]he braſen Altar that was before the Lord was too little to receiue the burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings 8:64, column 1:
text: And afterwards Thou [God] receivedst Seth and Enoch, and Enoch Thou translatedst; for Thou art the Creator of men, the Fountain of Life, the Supplier of Want, the Giver of Laws, the Rewarder of them that keep them, the Avenger of them that transgress them.
ref: 1873, Thomas Wimberley Mossman, quoting Pope Clement I (in translation), “The Genuine and Supposititious Writings of St. Clement”, in A History of the Catholic Church of Jesus Christ: From the Death of Saint John to the Middle of the Second Century: […], London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 58:
glosses: To take, as something that is offered; to accept.
topics: law
glosses: To take goods knowing them to be stolen.
examples: text: to receive a lodger, visitor, ambassador, messenger, etc.
text: And the barbarous people ſhewed vs no little kindneſſe: for they kindled a fire, and receiued us euery one becauſe of the preſent raine, and becauſe of the cold.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 28:2, column 1:
text: In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for the select circle—a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening for a pipe and a cheerful glass. [...] Strangers might enter the room, but they were made to feel that they were there on sufferance; they were received with distance and suspicion.
ref: 1892, Walter Besant, “The Select Circle”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 46:
synonyms: have
glosses: To act as a host for guests; to give admittance to; to permit to enter, as into one's house, presence, company, etc.
examples: text: I received a bloody nose from the collision.
text: But because this is oftentimes dangerous, and much hurt hath been received thereby through casualty of fire, I advise the sticking four stakes into the earth, at least five feet above the ground [...]
ref: 1804, Robert Wissett, On the Cultivation and Preparation of Hemp:
glosses: To incur (an injury).
examples: text: For the Phariſes and all the Jewes, except they waſh their hands oft, eate not, holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market, except they waſh, they eate not. And many other things there be, which they have receiued to hold, as the waſhing of cups and pots, braſen veſſels, and of tables.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 7:3–4, column 2:
glosses: To allow (a custom, tradition, etc.); to give credence or acceptance to.
topics: communications
electrical-engineering
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
telecommunications
glosses: To detect a signal from a transmitter.
topics: ball-games
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
squash
tennis
glosses: To be in a position to take possession, or hit back the ball.
To be in a position to hit back a service.
qualifier: badminton
topics: American-football
ball-games
football
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To be in a position to take possession, or hit back the ball.
To be in a position to catch a forward pass.
examples: text: I cannot receive [translating recevoir] that manner, whereby we establish the continuance of our life.
ref: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 57, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
glosses: To accept into the mind; to understand.
Synonyms: word: acquire
word: accept
word: attain
word: come by
word: cop
word: enlist
word: fang
word: gain
word: garner
word: get
word: get hold of
word: get one's hands on
word: land
word: lay hands on
word: lay hold of
word: obtain
word: procure
word: receive
word: secure
word: score
word: snag
word: take
word: win
Hypernyms: word: transfer
Hyponyms: word: accumulate
word: beg
word: borrow
word: blag
word: collect
word: earn
word: eke out
word: finagle
word: find
word: gather
word: hire
word: inveigle
word: purchase
word: preobtain
word: reap
word: scavenge
word: snaffle
Derived terms: word: at the receiving end
word: on the receiving end
word: receiving blanket
word: receiving house
word: receiving line
word: receiving reservoir
word: receiving ship
word: receiving time
word: receiving yard
word: RX
word: television receive-only
Related terms: word: receipt
word: receivable
word: receivableness
word: receival
word: receiveable
word: receiver
word: receivership
word: receptacle
word: reception
word: receptionist
word: receptive
word: recipient
word: receiving
word: deserve