• | To speak in defense against; to reply to in defense; as, to
answer a charge; to answer an accusation. |
• | To speak or write in return to, as in return to a call or
question, or to a speech, declaration, argument, or the like; to reply
to (a question, remark, etc.); to respond to. |
• | To respond to satisfactorily; to meet successfully by way
of explanation, argument, or justification, and the like; to refute. |
• | To be or act in return or response to. |
• | To be or act in compliance with, in fulfillment or
satisfaction of, as an order, obligation, demand; as, he answered my
claim upon him; the servant answered the bell. |
• | To render account to or for. |
• | To atone; to be punished for. |
• | To be opposite to; to face. |
• | To be or act an equivalent to, or as adequate or sufficient
for; to serve for; to repay. |
• | To be or act in accommodation, conformity, relation, or
proportion to; to correspond to; to suit. |
• | To speak or write by way of return (originally, to a
charge), or in reply; to make response. |
• | To make a satisfactory response or return. |
• | To render account, or to be responsible; to be
accountable; to make amends; as, the man must answer to his employer
for the money intrusted to his care. |
• | To be or act in return. |
• | To be or act by way of compliance, fulfillment,
reciprocation, or satisfaction; to serve the purpose; as, gypsum
answers as a manure on some soils. |
• | To be opposite, or to act in opposition. |
• | To be or act as an equivalent, or as adequate or
sufficient; as, a very few will answer. |
• | To be or act in conformity, or by way of accommodation,
correspondence, relation, or proportion; to conform; to correspond; to
suit; -- usually with to. |
• | A reply to a change; a defense. |
• | Something said or written in reply to a question, a call,
an argument, an address, or the like; a reply. |
• | Something done in return for, or in consequence of,
something else; a responsive action. |
• | A solution, the result of a mathematical operation; as, the
answer to a problem. |
• | A counter-statement of facts in a course of pleadings; a
confutation of what the other party has alleged; a responsive
declaration by a witness in reply to a question. In Equity, it is the
usual form of defense to the complainant's charges in his bill. |