different between answer vs rejoin

English

Wikiquote

Alternative forms

• answeare, aunswer, aunswere (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???n.s?/, /?an.s?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?æn.s?/
• (æ-tensing, rhotic) IPA^(key): [?e?n.s?]
• (æ-tensing, non-rhotic) IPA^(key): [?e?n.s?]
• Hyphenation: an?swer
• Rhymes: -??ns?(?), -æns?(?)

Etymology 1

From Middle English answere, andsware, from Old English andswaru (“answer”), from and- (“against”) +? -swaru (“affirmation”), (from Proto-Indo-European *h?ent- (“front, forehead”) and Old English swerian (“to swear”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer-), suggesting an original meaning of "a sworn statement rebutting a charge". The cognates suggest the existence of Proto-Germanic *andaswar? (“a reply to a question”). Cognate with Old Frisian ondser (“answer”), Old Saxon andsw?r (“answer”), Danish and Swedish ansvar (“liability, responsibility, answer”), Icelandic andsvar (“answer, response”). Compare also Old English andwyrde (“answer”) (cognate to Dutch antwoord, German Antwort), Old English andcwiss (“reply”), German Schwur (“oath, vow”).

Noun

answer (plural answers)

1. A response or reply; something said or done in reaction to a statement or question.

2. A solution to a problem.

3. (law) A document filed in response to a complaint, responding to each point raised in the complaint and raising counterpoints.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• ask

Etymology 2

From Middle English answeren, andswaren, answerien, from Old English andswarian, answarien (“to answer, to respond, to deny an allegation under oath”), from Proto-Germanic *andaswar?n?, *andaswarjan? (“to answer, to give a response, to rebut”), from *anda- (“against”) +? *swarjan?, *swar?n? (“to swear an oath, to answer, to respond”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to swear”) and *h?ent- (“face, forehead”), equivalent to and- (“against, back”) +? swear. Cognate with Old Frisian ondswera (“to answer”), Danish ansvare (“to answer, account for”), Swedish ansvara (“to answer, account for”), Icelandic andsvara (“to answer, reply”).

Verb

answer (third-person singular simple present answers, present participle answering, simple past and past participle answered)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make a reply or response to.

2. (transitive) To speak in defence against; to reply to in defence.

3. (transitive, intransitive) To respond to a call by someone at a door or telephone, or other similar piece of equipment.

4. (transitive, intransitive) To suit a need or purpose satisfactorily.
   • 1871, Alexander J. Ellis, On Early English Pronunciation, London: Trübner & Co., Part III, Chapter 7, section 1, p. 656, footnote 1,^[1]

     Of course for publication in a newspaper, my palaeotype would not answer, but my glossotype would enable the author to give his Pennsylvania German in an English form and much more intelligibly.

5. To be accountable or responsible; to make amends.

   Synonym: answer for
6. (law) To file a document in response to a complaint.
7. To correspond to; to be in harmony with; to be in agreement with.
   • 1775, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Duenna, Dublin: G. Burnet et al., 1794, Act II, Scene 2, p. 25,^[2]

     Egad, I wish she had answer’d her picture as well.

   • 1793, Bryan Edwards, The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies, Dublin: Luke White, Volume II, Book V, Chapter 2, p. 231,^[3]

     The use of dunder in the making of rum, answers the purpose of yeast in the fermentation of flour.

8. To be opposite, or to act in opposition.
   • 1786, William Gilpin, Observations, relative chiefly to picturesque beauty, made in the year 1772: on several parts of England; particularly the mountains, and lakes of Cumberland, and Westmoreland, London: R. Blamire, Volume II, Section 19, p. 85,^[4]

     The windows answering each other, we could just discern the glowing horizon through them […]

9. To be or act in conformity, or by way of accommodation, correspondence, relation, or proportion; to conform; to correspond; to suit; usually with to.
10. To respond to satisfactorily; to meet successfully by way of explanation, argument, or justification; to refute.
11. To be or act in compliance with, in fulfillment or satisfaction of, as an order, obligation, or demand.
12. (obsolete) To render account to or for.
13. (obsolete) To atone for; to be punished for.
14. (obsolete) To be or act as an equivalent to, or as adequate or sufficient for; to serve for; to repay.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• question

Anagrams

• Warnes, awners, resawn

Middle English

Noun

answer

1. Alternative form of answere

English

Etymology

French rejoindre; pref. re- re- + joindre to join. See join, and confer rejoinder.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???d????n/, /?i??d????n/
• Hyphenation: re?join
• Rhymes: -??n

Verb

rejoin (third-person singular simple present rejoins, present participle rejoining, simple past and past participle rejoined)

1. To join again; to unite after separation.
2. To come, or go, again into the presence of; to join the company of again.
   • c. 1733–38, Alexander Pope, Imitations of Horace, in 1807, William Warburton (editor), The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Volume II, page 60,

     Meet and rejoin me, in the pensive grot:

   • , Episode 16

     The pair parted company and Stephen rejoined Mr Bloom who, with his practised eye, was not without perceiving that he had succumbed to the blandiloquence of the other parasite. Alluding to the encounter he said, laughingly, Stephen, that is:
3. (archaic) To state in reply; -- followed by an object clause.
   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4

     'Be careful what you do,' rejoined another man's voice that I did not know, 'lest someone see you digging, and scent us out.'

4. (archaic, intransitive): To answer to a reply.
5. (law, intransitive) To answer, as the defendant to the plaintiff's replication.
6. (patent law, nonstandard) in US patent law To re-insert a patent claim, typically after allowance of a patent application, applied to patent claims that had been withdrawn from examination under a restriction requirement, based on rejoinder (patent law).

Anagrams

• Joiner, joiner