count¹ / kount/ • v. 1. [tr.] determine the total number of (a collection of items). ∎  [intr.] recite numbers in ascending order, usually starting at the number one. ∎  [intr.] (count down) recite or display numbers backward to zero to indicate the time remaining before the launch of a rocket or the start of an operation.2. [tr.] take into account; include: the staff has shrunk to four, or five if you count the summer intern. ∎  (count someone in) include someone in an activity or the plans for it. ∎  consider (someone or something) to possess a specified quality or fulfill a specified role: I count myself fortunate to have known him. ∎  [intr.] be regarded as possessing a specified quality or fulfilling a specified role: the rebate counts as taxable income.3. [intr.] be significant: it did not matter what the audience thought—it was the critics that counted. ∎  (of a factor) play a part in influencing opinion for or against someone or something: his sportsmanlike attitude will count in his favor. ∎  (count for) be worth (a specified amount): his views count for little. ∎  (count toward) be included in an assessment of (a final result or amount). ∎  (count on/upon) rely on.• n. 1. an act of determining the total number of something. ∎  the total determined by such an action: a moderate increase in the white cell count.2. an act of reciting numbers in ascending order, up to the specified number: hold the position for five counts. ∎  Boxing an act of reciting numbers up to ten by the referee when a boxer is knocked down, the boxer being considered knocked out if still down when ten is reached. ∎ Baseball the number of balls and strikes that have been charged to the batter, as recalculated with each pitch.3. a point for discussion or consideration: the program remained vulnerable on a number of counts. ∎  Law a separate charge in an indictment.4. the measure of the fineness of a yarn expressed as the weight of a given length or the length of a given weight. ∎  a measure of the fineness of a woven fabric expressed as the number of warp or weft threads in a given length.PHRASES: count one's blessings be grateful for what one has.count the days (or hours) be impatient for time to pass.count (one's) penniessee penny.count sheepsee sheep.down (or Brit. out) for the count Boxing defeated by being knocked to the canvas and unable to rise within ten seconds.keep count (or a count) take note of the number or amount of something.lose count forget how many of something there are, esp. because the number is so high.PHRASAL VERBS: count someone out1. complete a count of ten seconds over a fallen boxer to indicate defeat.2. inf. exclude someone from an activity or the plans for it.count something out take items one by one from a stock of something, esp. money, keeping a note of how many one takes.count² • n. a European nobleman whose rank corresponds to that of an English earl.DERIVATIVES: count·ship / -ˌship/ n.

COUNT

Incommon-law pleadingorcode pleading, the initial statements made by a plaintiff that set forth acause of actionto commence a civil lawsuit; the different points of a plaintiff's declaration, each of which constitute a basis for relief. Incriminal procedure, one of several parts or charges of an indictment, each accusing the defendant of a different offense.

The term count has been replaced by the word complaint in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and many state codes of civil procedure. Sometimes count is used to denote the numbered paragraphs of a complaint, each of which sets out an essential element of the claim.

Federal and state rules of criminal procedure govern the standards that a criminal count must satisfy in federal and state criminal matters.

count1 a foreign nobleman whose rank corresponds to that of an earl; the term is recorded from late Middle English, and comes via Old French from Latin comes, comit- ‘companion, overseer, attendant’, in late Latin, ‘person holding a state office’.

The Count of Britain and the Count of the Saxon Shore were the two generals of the Roman province of Britannia in the 4th century.

count 2 used to repr. foreign titles of nobility (F. comte, G. graf, etc.). XVI. — OF. conte (mod. comte) :- L. comes, comit- companion, associate, one of the imperial retinue, (late L.) occupant of a state office; for *comis :- *comits lit. ‘one who goes with’, f. COM- + ppl. stem it- of īre go.
So countess XII.

count2 count one's blessings be grateful for what one has (often as an adjuration or warning).
count the cost pay heed to the adverse consequences of something (often in negative contexts, as in St Ignatius Loyola's ‘Prayer for Generosity’ (1548): ‘Teach us, good Lord…To give and not to count the cost.’
don't count your chickens before they are hatched one should not make, or act upon, an assumption (usually favourable) which may turn out to be ill-founded. Saying recorded from the late 16th century.