read*/*/*/

[riːd] (past tense and past participle read [red] ) verb I

1) [I/T] to look at and understand words in a letter, book, newspaper etc

I read a few chapters every night.[/ex]

He was sitting reading in the waiting room.[/ex]

By the age of five, he was able to read and write.[/ex]

2) [I/T] to speak the words that you are looking at

I'm going to read this poem aloud.[/ex]

Reading to young children helps develop their language skills.[/ex]

Read me that last sentence again.[/ex]

3) [I/T] to get information from books, newspapers etc

He likes reading about wildlife.[/ex]

We read it in the local paper.[/ex]

4) [T] to look at and understand the information, symbols, or numbers on a map or a piece of measuring equipment

Has the man been to read the gas meter?[/ex]

5) [T] if a computer or other piece of electronic equipment reads something, it examines the information on it or copies it to a particular place

6) [T] to understand something in a particular way

Syn:

interpret

They had read the situation accurately.[/ex]

We had read their decision as an admission of failure.[/ex]

7) [T] to be able to understand what someone is like or what they are thinking

It was difficult to read his expression.[/ex]

Her next comment surprised me. It was as if she had read my mind.[/ex]

8) [T] if a short piece of writing reads something, it contains those particular words

The label read, ‘Suitable only for children over three'.[/ex]

9) [T] if a piece of measuring equipment reads something, it shows a particular number or amount

The thermometer has been reading over 90 degrees all day.[/ex]

•

read between the lines — to guess something that is not expressed directly[/ex]

- read sth into sth

- read sth out

- read sth through

- read up on sth

II

noun [singular]

read [riːd]

an act of reading something, or a period of time spent reading something