To Read. v.a. pret. read, part. pass. read. [ræd, Saxon.]
- To peruse any thing written.
I have seen her take forth paper, write upon't, read it, and afterwards seal it. Shakesp. Macbeth.
The passage you must have read, though since slipt out of your memory. Pope.
If we have not leisure to read over the book itself regularly, then by the titles of chapters we may be directed to peruse several sections. Watt's Improvement of the Mind.
- To discover by characters or marks.
An armed corse did lye,
In whose dead face he read great magnanimity. Spenser.
- To learn by observation.
Those about her
From her shall read the perfect ways of honour. Shakesp.
- To know fully.
O most delicate fiend!
Who is't can read a woman? Shakesp. Cymbeline.