read up
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read
(rēd)v. read (rĕd), read·ing, reads
v.tr.
1. To examine and grasp the meaning of (written or printed characters, words, or sentences).
2. To utter or render aloud (written or printed material): read poems to the students.
3. To have the ability to examine and grasp the meaning of (written or printed material in a given language or notation): reads Chinese; reads music.
4.
a. To examine and grasp the meaning of (language in a form other than written or printed characters, words, or sentences): reading Braille; reading sign language.
b. To examine and grasp the meaning of (a graphic representation): reading a map.
5.
a. To discern and interpret the nature or significance of through close examination or sensitive observation: The tracker read the trail for signs of game.
b. To discern or anticipate through examination or observation; descry: "I can read abandonment in a broken door or shattered window" (William H. Gass).
6. To determine the intent or mood of: can read your mind like a book; a hard person to read.
7.
a. To attribute a certain interpretation or meaning to: read her words differently than I did.
b. To consider (something written or printed) as having a particular meaning or significance: read the novel as a parable.
8. To foretell or predict (the future).
9. To receive or comprehend (a radio message, for example): I read you loud and clear.
10. To study or make a study of: read history as an undergraduate.
11. To learn or get knowledge of from something written or printed: read that interest rates would continue to rise.
12. To proofread.
13. To have or use as a preferred reading in a particular passage: For change read charge.
14. To indicate, register, or show: The dial reads 32°.
15. Computers To obtain (data) from a storage medium, such as an optical disc.
16. Genetics To decode or translate (a sequence of messenger RNA) into an amino acid sequence in a polypeptide chain.
v.intr.
1. To examine and grasp the meaning of printed or written characters, as of words or music.
2. To speak aloud the words that one is reading: read to the children every night.
3. To learn by reading: read about the storm in the paper today.
4. To study.
5. To have a particular wording: Recite the poem exactly as it reads.
6. To contain a specific meaning: As the law reads, the defendant is guilty.
7. To indicate, register, or show a measurement or figure: How does your new watch read?
8. To have a specified character or quality for the reader: Your poems read well.
n. Informal
1. Something that is read: "The book is a page-turner as well as a very satisfying read" (Frank Conroy).
2. An interpretation or assessment: gave us her read of the political situation.
adj. (rĕd)
Phrasal Verbs: Informed by reading; learned: only sparsely read in fields outside my profession.
read out
To read aloud: Please read out the names on the list.
read up
Idioms: To study or learn by reading: Read up on the places you plan to visit before you travel.
read a lecture/lesson
To issue a reprimand: My parents read me a lecture because I had neglected my chores.
read between the lines
To perceive or detect an obscure or unexpressed meaning: learned to read between the lines of corporate annual reports to discern areas of fiscal weakness.
read out of
To expel by proclamation from a social, political, or other group: was read out of the secretariat after the embarrassing incident.
Word History: English is the one of the few western European languages that does not derive its verb for "to read" from Latin legere. Compare, for example, leggere in Italian, lire in French, and lesen in German. (Equally surprising is the fact that English is the only western European language not to derive its verb for "to write" from Latin scrībere.) Read comes from the Old English verb rǣdan, "to advise, interpret (something difficult), interpret (something written), read." Rǣdan is related to the German verb raten, "to advise" (as in Rathaus, "town hall"). The Old English noun rǣd, "counsel," survives in the rare noun rede, "counsel, advice" and in the name of the unfortunate King Ethelred the Unready, whose epithet is often misunderstood. Unready here does not have its current sense "unprepared"; it is a late 16th-century spelling of an earlier unredy, "ill-advised, rash, foolish," from rede.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
read up
vb
(when intr, often foll by: on) to acquire information about (a subject) by reading intensively
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
Translations
w>read up
vt sep → nachlesen über (+acc), → sich informieren über (+acc)
vi → nachlesen, sich informieren (→ on über +acc)
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007