receive

views updated May 23 2018

re·ceive / riˈsēv/ • v. [tr.] 1. be given, presented with, or paid (something): most businesses will receive a tax cut she received her prize from the manager. ∎  take delivery of (something sent or communicated): he received fifty inquiries after advertising the job. ∎  buy or accept goods in the knowledge that they have been stolen: a man convicted of receiving stolen property. ∎  detect or pick up (broadcast signals): Turkish television began to be received in Tashkent. ∎  form (an idea or impression) as a result of perception or experience: the impression she received was one of unhurried leisure. ∎  (in tennis and similar games) be the player to whom the server serves (the ball). ∎  (in Christian services) eat or drink (the Eucharistic bread or wine): he received Communion and left. ∎  consent to formally hear (an oath or confession): he failed to find a magistrate to receive his oath. ∎  serve as a receptacle for: the basin that receives your blood.2. suffer, experience, or be subject to (specified treatment): the event received wide press coverage he received an eight-year prison sentence she received only cuts and bruises. ∎  [tr.] (usu. be received) respond to (something) in a specified way: her first poem was not well received. ∎  meet with (a specified response or reaction): the rulings have received widespread acceptance. ∎  [as adj.] (received) widely accepted as authoritative or true: the myths and received wisdom about the country's past. ∎  meet and have to withstand: the landward slopes receive the full force of the wind.3. greet or welcome (a visitor) formally: representatives of the club will be received by the Mayor. ∎  be visited by: she was not allowed to receive visitors. ∎  admit as a member: hundreds of converts were received into the Church. ∎  provide space or accommodations for: three lines are reserved for special vehicles, and the remaining lines receive the general rolling stock.PHRASES: be at (or on) the receiving end be the person to whom a telephone call is made. ∎ inf. be subjected to something unpleasant: she found herself on the receiving end of a good deal of teasing.

receive

views updated May 29 2018

receive take to oneself XIII; accept, take in, admit; be the object of XIV. — OF. receivre, var. of reçoivre or later (refash.) recevoir, ult.:- L. recipere; see RECIPIENT.
So receiver (-ER2) XIV. — AN. *receivere, -our = OF. recevere.

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