In the 18th century, the Swedish government made coffee and its paraphernalia (including cups and dishes) illegal for its supposed ties to rebellious sentiment.
READINGS
Noun
readings
plural of reading
Anagrams
• Dearings, deraigns, disrange, gradines, grandies
Source: Wiktionary
READING
Read"ing, n.
1. The act of one who reads; perusal; also, printed or written matter to be read.
2. Study of books; literary scholarship; as, a man of extensive reading.
3. A lecture or prelection; public recital. The Jews had their weekly readings of the law. Hooker.
4. The way in which anything reads; force of a word or passage presented by a documentary authority; lection; version.
5. Manner of reciting, or acting a part, on the stage; way of rendering. [Cant]
6. An observation read from the scale of a graduated instrument; as, the reading of a barometer. Reading of a bill (Legislation), its normal recital, by the proper officer, before the House which is to consider it.
Read"ing, a.
1. Of or pertaining to the act of reading; used in reading.
2. Addicted to reading; as, a reading community. Reading book, a book for teaching reading; a reader.
– Reading desk, a desk to support a book while reading; esp., a desk used while reading the service in a church.
– Reading glass, a large lens with more or less magnifying power, attached to a handle, and used in reading, etc.
– Reading man, one who reads much; hence, in the English universities, a close, industrious student.
– Reading room, a room appropriated to reading; a room provided with papers, periodicals, and the like, to which persons resort.
READ
Read, n.
Definition: Rennet. See 3d Reed. [Prov. Eng.]
Read, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Read; p. pr. & vb. n. Reading.] Etym: [OE. reden, ræden, AS. rædan to read, advice, counsel, fr. ræd advise, counsel, rædan (imperf. reord) to advice, counsel, guess; akin to D. raden to advise, G. raten, rathen, Icel. raedha, Goth. redan (in comp.), and perh. also to Skr. radh to succeed. sq. root116. Cf. Riddle.]
1. To advise; to counsel. [Obs.] See Rede. Therefore, I read thee, get to God's word, and thereby try all doctrine. Tyndale.
2. To interpret; to explain; as, to read a riddle.
3. To tell; to declare; to recite. [Obs.] But read how art thou named, and of what kin. Spenser.
4. To go over, as characters or words, and utter aloud, or recite to one's self inaudibly; to take in the sense of, as of language, by interpreting the characters with which it is expressed; to peruse; as, to read a discourse; to read the letters of an alphabet; to read figures; to read the notes of music, or to read music; to read a book. Redeth [read ye] the great poet of Itaille. Chaucer. Well could he rede a lesson or a story. Chaucer.
5. Hence, to know fully; to comprehend. Who is't can read a woman Shak.
6. To discover or understand by characters, marks, features, etc.; to learn by observation. An armed corse did lie, In whose dead face he read great magnanimity. Spenser. Those about her From her shall read the perfect ways of honor. Shak.
7. To make a special study of, as by perusing textbooks; as, to read theology or law. To read one's self in, to read about the Thirty-nine Articles and the Declaration of Assent, -- required of a clergyman of the Church of England when he first officiates in a new benefice.
Read, v. t.
1. To give advice or counsel. [Obs.]
2. To tell; to declare. [Obs.] Spenser.
3. To perform the act of reading; to peruse, or to go over and utter aloud, the words of a book or other like document. So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense. Neh. viii. 8.
4. To study by reading; as, he read for the bar.
5. To learn by reading. I have read of an Eastern king who put a judge to death for an iniquitous sentence. Swift.
6. To appear in writing or print; to be expressed by, or consist of, certain words or characters; as, the passage reads thus in the early manuscripts.
7. To produce a certain effect when read; as, that sentence reads queerly. To read between the lines, to infer something different from what is plainly indicated; to detect the real meaning as distinguished from the apparent meaning.
Read, n. Etym: [AS. ræd counsel, fr. rædan to counsel. See Read, v. t.]
1. Saying; sentence; maxim; hence, word; advice; counsel. See Rede. [Obs.]
2. Etym: [Read, v.]
Definition: Reading. [Colloq.] Hume. One newswoman here lets magazines for a penny a read. Furnivall.
Read,
Definition: imp. & p. p. of Read, v. t. & i.
Read, a.
Definition: Instructed or knowing by reading; versed in books; learned. A poet . . . well read in Longinus. Addison.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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Word of the Day
31 March 2025
IMPROVISED
(adjective) done or made using whatever is available; “crossed the river on improvised bridges”; “the survivors used jury-rigged fishing gear”; “the rock served as a makeshift hammer”
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