Word: return Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English returnen, retornen, from Anglo-Norman returner, from Old French retourner, retorner, from Medieval Latin retornare (“to turn back”), from re- + tornare (“to turn”). By surface analysis, re- + turn. Compare beturn. Pronunciation: /ɹɪˈtɜːn/, /ɹɪˈtɝn/, /ɹəˈtɚːn/, /ɹəˈtʊːɹn/, /ɾɪˈtə(ɾ)n/ 1. The act of returning. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: I expect the house to be spotless upon my return. Example: I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railroad station. 2. A return ticket. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Do you want a one-way or a return? 3. An item that is returned, e.g. due to a defect. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Most product returns to the top retailers in the USA (either direct from the consumer or through non-sales) will be taken back by the original suppliers for rework or disposal. 4. An answer. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: a return to one’s question 5. An account, or formal report, of an action performed, of a duty discharged, of facts or statistics, etc.; especially, in the plural, a set of tabulated statistics prepared for general information. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: election returns; a return of the amount of goods produced or sold Example: The other returns having come in, the result of the poll, that Sir James Graham had been superseded by Major Aglionby, was declared at Carlisle soon after 11 a.m. 6. Gain or loss from an investment. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: It yielded a return of 5%. Example: from the few hours we spend in prayer and the exercises of a pious life, the return is great and profitable 7. A report of income submitted to a government for purposes of specifying exact tax payment amounts; a tax return. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Hand in your return within 90 days of the end of the tax year. 8. A carriage return character. Labels: countable, uncountable 9. The act of relinquishing control to the calling procedure. Labels: countable, uncountable 10. A return value: the data passed back from a called procedure. Labels: countable, uncountable 11. A return pipe, returning fluid to a boiler or other central plant (compare with flow pipe, which carries liquid away from a central plant). Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The boiler technician had to cut out the heating return to access the safety valve. 12. A roadway along which foul air travels from the face on its way out of the mine. Labels: countable, uncountable 13. The act of catching a ball after a punt and running it back towards the opposing team. Labels: countable, uncountable 14. A throw from a fielder to the wicket-keeper or to another fielder at the wicket. Labels: countable, uncountable 15. A short perpendicular extension of a desk, usually slightly lower. Labels: countable, uncountable 16. The continuation in a different direction, most often at a right angle, of a building, face of a building, or any member, such as a moulding; applied to the shorter in contradistinction to the longer. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: A facade of sixty feet east and west has a return of twenty feet north and south.