Returns

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /ɹɪˈtɜːnz/

Definitions

1. To give or send something back to a place or person ; the income or profit received from an investment or activity
2. To send back an item to its original source or owner ; the financial gain or yield produced by an enterprise or asset
3. The act of giving something back to where it came from ; the amount of money earned from investing or the benefit gained from effort

Etymology: "Returns" is the plural of "return," and the plural of a noun like this is the more interesting form to explain here: the commercial sense of goods sent back to a seller is what most people now have in mind. The verb underneath comes from Anglo-Norman "returner," which passed from Old French "retourner" and Medieval Latin "retornare," meaning "to turn back." Its parts are the prefix "re-" (back, again) and "tornare" (to turn), so the word is literally a turning back. English already had its own word for this idea. Old English "eftċierran" meant something like "eft-char," with "eft" meaning "again" or "back" and "cierran" meaning "to turn," and the French import pushed it out of use. Compare that with the Latin root itself, "tornare," which also gave English "turn" in its ordinary sense, and the word ends up as a close relative of the very word it contains.

Synonyms: replies, responses

Antonyms: departures, leavings