Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - return

(returns, returning, returned) Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. When you return to a place, you go back there after you have been away. Blair will return to London tonight... So far more than 350,000 people have returned home. VERB: V to/from n, V adv 2. Your return is your arrival back at a place where you had been before. Ryle explained the reason for his sudden return to London. N-SING: with poss 3. If you return something that you have borrowed or taken, you give it back or put it back. I enjoyed the book and said so when I returned it... VERB: V n • Return is also a noun. The main demand of the Indians is for the return of one-and-a-half-million acres of forest to their communities. N-SING: usu N of n 4. If you return something somewhere, you put it back where it was. He returned the notebook to his jacket. VERB: V n to n 5. If you return someone’s action, you do the same thing to them as they have just done to you. If you return someone’s feeling, you feel the same way towards them as they feel towards you. Back at the station the Chief Inspector returned the call... VERB: V n 6. If a feeling or situation returns, it comes back or happens again after a period when it was not present. Official reports in Algeria suggest that calm is returning to the country... VERB: V • Return is also a noun. It was like the return of his youth. N-SING: with supp 7. If you return to a state that you were in before, you start being in that state again. Life has improved and returned to normal. VERB: V to n • Return is also a noun. He made an uneventful return to normal health... N-SING: N to n 8. If you return to a subject that you have mentioned before, you begin talking about it again. The power of the Church is one theme all these writers return to. VERB: V to n 9. If you return to an activity that you were doing before, you start doing it again. At that stage he will be 52, young enough to return to politics if he wishes to do so. VERB: V to n • Return is also a noun. He has not ruled out the shock possibility of a return to football. N-SING: N to n 10. When a judge or jury returns a verdict, they announce whether they think the person on trial is guilty or not. They returned a verdict of not guilty. VERB: V n 11. A return ticket is a ticket for a journey from one place to another and then back again. (mainly BRIT) He bought a return ticket and boarded the next train for home. ADJ: usu ADJ n • Return is also a noun. (in AM, usually use round trip) BA and Air France charge more than ?400 for a return to Nice. N-COUNT see also day return 12. The return trip or journey is the part of a journey that takes you back to where you started from. Buy an extra ticket for the return trip. ? outward ADJ: ADJ n 13. The return on an investment is the profit that you get from it. (BUSINESS) Profits have picked up this year but the return on capital remains tiny... N-COUNT 14. A tax return is an official form that you fill in with details about your income and personal situation, so that the income tax you owe can be calculated. He was convicted of filing false income tax returns... Anyone with slight complications in their tax affairs is likely to be asked to fill in a return. N-COUNT see also tax return 15. When it is someone’s birthday, people sometimes say ‘Many happy returns’ to them as a way of greeting them. CONVENTION c darkgreen]formulae 16. If you do something in return for what someone else has done for you, you do it because they did that thing for you. The deal offers an increase in policy value in return for giving up guarantees. PHRASE 17. If you say that you have reached the point of no return, you mean that you now have to continue with what you are doing and it is too late to stop. The release of Mr Nelson Mandela marked the point of no return in South Africa’s movement away from apartheid. PHRASE 18. to return fire: see fire