v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Answered p. pr. & vb. n. Answering. ] [ OE. andswerien, AS. andswerian, andswarian, to answer, fr. andswaru, n., answer. See Answer, n. ] 1. To speak in defense against; to reply to in defense; as, to answer a charge; to answer an accusation. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To speak or write in return to, as in return to a call or question, or to a speech, declaration, argument, or the like; to reply to (a question, remark, etc.); to respond to. [ 1913 Webster ]

She answers him as if she knew his mind. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

So spake the apostate angel, though in pain: . . .
And him thus answered soon his bold compeer. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To respond to satisfactorily; to meet successfully by way of explanation, argument, or justification, and the like; to refute. [ 1913 Webster ]

No man was able to answer him a word. Matt. xxii. 46. [ 1913 Webster ]

These shifts refuted, answer thine appellant. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

The reasoning was not and could not be answered. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To be or act in return or response to. Hence: (a) To be or act in compliance with, in fulfillment or satisfaction of, as an order, obligation, demand; as, he answered my claim upon him; the servant answered the bell. [ 1913 Webster ]

This proud king . . . studies day and night
To answer all the debts he owes unto you. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) To render account to or for. [ 1913 Webster ]

I will . . . send him to answer thee. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

(c) To atone; to be punished for. [ 1913 Webster ]

And grievously hath Cæzar answered it. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

(d) To be opposite to; to face. [ 1913 Webster ]

The windows answering each other, we could just discern the glowing horizon them. Gilpin. [ 1913 Webster ]

(e) To be or act an equivalent to, or as adequate or sufficient for; to serve for; to repay. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Money answereth all things. Eccles. x. 19. [ 1913 Webster ]

(f) To be or act in accommodation, conformity, relation, or proportion to; to correspond to; to suit. [ 1913 Webster ]

Weapons must needs be dangerous things, if they answered the bulk of so prodigious a person. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To speak or write by way of return (originally, to a charge), or in reply; to make response. [ 1913 Webster ]

There was no voice, nor any that answered. 1 Kings xviii. 26. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To make a satisfactory response or return. Hence: To render account, or to be responsible; to be accountable; to make amends; as, the man must answer to his employer for the money intrusted to his care. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let his neck answer for it, if there is any martial law. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To be or act in return. Hence: (a) To be or act by way of compliance, fulfillment, reciprocation, or satisfaction; to serve the purpose; as, gypsum answers as a manure on some soils. [ 1913 Webster ]

Do the strings answer to thy noble hand? Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) To be opposite, or to act in opposition. (c) To be or act as an equivalent, or as adequate or sufficient; as, a very few will answer. (d) To be or act in conformity, or by way of accommodation, correspondence, relation, or proportion; to conform; to correspond; to suit; -- usually with to. [ 1913 Webster ]

That the time may have all shadow and silence in it, and the place answer to convenience. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

If this but answer to my just belief,
I 'll remember you. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man. Prov. xxvii. 19. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. andsware, AS. andswaru; and against + swerian to swear. √177, 196. See Anti-, and Swear, and cf. 1st un-. ] 1. A reply to a charge; a defense. [ 1913 Webster ]

At my first answer no man stood with me. 2 Tim. iv. 16. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Something said or written in reply to a question, a call, an argument, an address, or the like; a reply. [ 1913 Webster ]

A soft answer turneth away wrath. Prov. xv. 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

I called him, but he gave me no answer. Cant. v. 6. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Something done in return for, or in consequence of, something else; a responsive action. [ 1913 Webster ]

Great the slaughter is
Here made by the Roman; great the answer be
Britons must take. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A solution, the result of a mathematical operation; as, the answer to a problem. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Law) A counter-statement of facts in a course of pleadings; a confutation of what the other party has alleged; a responsive declaration by a witness in reply to a question. In Equity, it is the usual form of defense to the complainant's charges in his bill. Bouvier. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Reply; rejoinder; response. See Reply. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Obliged to answer; liable to be called to account; liable to pay, indemnify, or make good; accountable; amenable; responsible; as, an agent is answerable to his principal; to be answerable for a debt, or for damages. [ 1913 Webster ]

Will any man argue that . . . he can not be justly punished, but is answerable only to God? Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Capable of being answered or refuted; admitting a satisfactory answer. [ 1913 Webster ]

The argument, though subtle, is yet answerable. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Correspondent; conformable; hence, comparable. [ 1913 Webster ]

What wit and policy of man is answerable to their discreet and orderly course? Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

This revelation . . . was answerable to that of the apostle to the Thessalonians. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Proportionate; commensurate; suitable; as, an achievement answerable to the preparation for it. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Equal; equivalent; adequate. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Had the valor of his soldiers been answerable, he had reached that year, as was thought, the utmost bounds of Britain. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being answerable, liable, responsible, or correspondent. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an answerable manner; in due proportion or correspondence; suitably. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who answers. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having no answer, or impossible to be answered. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

, adv. [ Prob. a corruption of arriswise. See Arris. ] Placed in such a position as to exhibit the top and two sides, the corner being in front; -- said of a rectangular form. Encyc. Brit. Cussans. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Diagonally laid, as tiles; ridgewise. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. See Assuage. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Native name. ] (Zool.) The sloth bear (Melursus labiatus) of India. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ AS. aswebban; a + swebban. See Sweven. ] To stupefy. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a state of swinging. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a swoon. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a swoon. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. aligned from front to back; slanted toward the back; -- used of hair.
Syn. -- sweptback. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. any of numerous predaceous aquatic insects of the family Notonectidae (such as Notonecta undulata) that swim on their backs and may inflict painful bites; -- also called boat bug. [ RHUD ] [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. [ 2d back, n. + sword. ] 1. A sword with one sharp edge. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. In England, a stick with a basket handle, used in rustic amusements; also, the game in which the stick is used. Also called singlestick. Halliwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

See under 1st Bank, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) The bass (Tilia) or its wood; especially, Tilia Americana. See Bass, the lime tree. [ 1913 Webster ]

All the bowls were made of basswood,
White and polished very smoothly. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n.; pl. -women Fem. of Beadsman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who swerves from and is unfaithful to the marriage vow. [ Poetic ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The wax secreted by bees, and of which their cells are constructed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The second crust formed in port and some other wines after long keeping. It consists of pure, shining scales of tartar, supposed to resemble the wing of a bee. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Contr. from bellyswagger. ] A lewd man; also, a bully. [ Obs. ] Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ AS. beswīcan; be- + swīcan to deceive, entice; akin to OS. swīkan, OHG. swīhhan, Icel. svīkja. ] To lure; to cheat. [ Obs. ] Gower. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Sweet and then bitter or bitter and then sweet; esp. sweet with a bitter after taste; hence (Fig.), pleasant but painful. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Anything which is bittersweet. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A kind of apple so called. Gower. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Bot.) (a) A climbing shrub, with oval coral-red berries (Solanum dulcamara); woody nightshade. The whole plant is poisonous, and has a taste at first sweetish and then bitter. The branches are the officinal dulcamara. (b) An American woody climber (Celastrus scandens), whose yellow capsules open late in autumn, and disclose the red aril which covers the seeds; -- also called Roxbury waxwork. [ 1913 Webster ]

A sweat accompanied by a discharge of blood; a disease, called sweating sickness, formerly prevalent in England and other countries. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Boat + swain. ] 1. (Naut.) An officer who has charge of the boats, sails, rigging, colors, anchors, cables, cordage, etc., of a ship, and who also summons the crew, and performs other duties. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) (a) The jager gull. (b) The tropic bird. [ 1913 Webster ]

Boatswain's mate, an assistant of the boatswain. Totten. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Bondwoman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a genus of incense-yielding trees of North Africa and India.
Syn. -- genus Boswellia. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Relating to, or characteristic of, Dr. Johnson's biographer, James Boswell, whose hero worship made his narrative a faithful but often uncritical record of details. -- Bos"well*ize v. i. & t. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

n. The style of Boswell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A sword with a broad blade and a cutting edge; a claymore. [ 1913 Webster ]

I heard the broadsword's deadly clang. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

See Japan black. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ G. Braunschweiger grün, first made at Brunswick, in Germany. ] An oxychloride of copper, used as a green pigment; also, a carbonate of copper similarly employed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a female businessman. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a stout sword with a curved blade and thick back.
Syn. -- saber, sabre. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. someone who cleans soot from chimneys, usually as a profession.
Syn. -- chimneysweeper, sweep. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a female member of a clan.
Syn. -- clansman, clan member. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A large swan. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cock a boat + swain; hence, the master of a boat. ] The steersman of a boat; a petty officer who has charge of a boat and its crew. [ 1913 Webster ]

same as cocus wood. Syn. -- granadilla wood. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

A West Indian wood obtained from the granadilla tree, used for making flutes, clarinets, and other musical instruments. [ Also spelled cocoswood. ]
Syn. -- granadilla wood. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Cot a cottage or hut + wold an open country. ] An open country abounding in sheepcotes, as in the Cotswold hills, in Gloucestershire, England. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cotswold sheep, a long-wooled breed of sheep, formerly common in the counties of Gloucester, Hereford, and Worcester, Eng.; -- so called from the Cotswold Hills. The breed is now chiefly amalgamated with others. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A swaying in a contrary direction; an opposing influence. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

A countersway of restraint, curbing their wild exorbitance. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Cockswain. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Crossroad. [ 1913 Webster ]