Return

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /ɹɪˈtɜːn/

Definitions

1. To come or go back to a previous place, position, or state
2. To move back to where one was before ; to give something back to its original owner ; to send or pass back through a system or process
3. To travel or move in the direction from which one came ; to restore an item or amount to a prior recipient ; to cause something to be redirected or refunded

Etymology: The word "return" arrived in English carrying a turning motion built into its very structure. Its ancestor, Latin "tornare," meant "to turn," in the sense of shaping something on a lathe, from "tornus," a turning tool. Medieval Latin added the prefix "re-" to make "retornare," "to turn back," and that form passed through Old French "retourner" and Anglo-Norman "returner" before reaching Middle English as "returnen." So when someone returns home today, they are, etymologically, simply turning back around. The most striking detail is what English had before it. Old English already had a native verb for this idea, "eftċierran," literally "eft-char," with "eft" meaning "again" or "back" and "cierran" meaning "to turn." The French-derived word pushed it out, so the everyday English word for going back home is a borrowing, while the older native equivalent vanished from common use.

Synonyms: come back, revert, reappear, go back, restore

Antonyms: depart, leave, exit, abandon, forsake