counter

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. adj. Contrary; opposing: moves and counter moves on the checkerboard.
2. n. One that is an opposite.
3. n. Sports A boxing blow given while receiving or parrying another.
4. n. Sports A fencing parry in which one foil follows the other in a circular fashion.
5. n. A stiff piece of leather around the heel of a shoe.
6. n. Nautical The portion of a ship's stern extending from the water line to the extreme outward swell.
7. n. Printing The depression between the raised lines of the face on a piece of type.
8. v. To meet or return (a blow) by another blow.
9. v. To move or act in opposition to; oppose.
10. v. To offer in response: countered that she was too busy to be thorough.
11. v. To move, act, or respond so as to be in opposition.
12. adv. In a contrary manner or direction.
13. adv. To or toward an opposite or dissimilar course or outcome: a method running counter to traditional techniques.
14. n. A flat surface on which money is counted, business is transacted, or food is prepared or served.
15. n. Games A piece, as of wood or ivory, used for keeping a count or a place.
16. n. An imitation coin; a token.
17. n. A piece of money.
18. idiom. over the counter Without being listed or available on an officially recognized stock exchange but traded in direct negotiation between buyers and sellers: bought stocks over the counter.
19. idiom. over the counter Without a doctor's prescription being legally required: cold medicine that is available over the counter.
20. idiom. under the counter In an illegal or surreptitious manner; illicitly: arrested for selling prescription drugs under the counter.
21. n. One that counts, especially an electronic or mechanical device that automatically counts occurrences or repetitions of phenomena or events.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. One who counts or reckons; a computer; an auditor.
2. n. An apparatus for keeping count of revolutions or other movements.
3. n. A thing used in counting; that which indicates a number; that which is used to keep an account or reckoning, as in games; specifically, a piece of metal, ivory, wood, or other material, or a spurious or imitation coin, used for this purpose.
4. n. A piece of money; a coin; in plural, money.
5. n. In early English law, an attorney or serjeant at law retained to conduct a cause in court.
6. n. A counting-room.
7. n. A table or board on which money is counted; a table in a shop on which goods are laid for examination by purchasers.
8. n. Formerly, in England, a debtors' prison: used especially as the name of two prisons for debtors in the City of London, and of one in Southwark.
9. Contrary; in opposition; in an opposite direction: used chiefly with run or go: as, to run counter to the rules of virtue; he went counter to his own interest.
10. In the wrong way; contrary to the right course; in the reverse direction; contrariwise.
11. Directly in front; in or at the face.
12. Adverse; opposite; contrary; opposing; antagonistic.
13. Against; contrary or antagonistic to.
14. n. That which is counter or antagonistic; an opposite.
15. n. In music, any voice-part set in contrast to a principal melody or part; specifically, the counter-tenor; the high tenor or alto. Sometimes this part is sung an octave higher than it is written, thus becoming a high soprano.
16. n. That part of a horse's breast which lies between the shoulders and under the neck.
17. n. That part of a ship which lies between the water-line and the knuckle of the stern. The counter-timbers are short timbers in the stern, used to strengthen the counter.
18. n. The stiff leather forming the back part of a shoe or boot surrounding the heel of the wearer. See cut under boot.
19. n. In fencing, a parry in which the sword's point makes a complete curve, returning to its original position. The various counters are named with reference to the thrust to be parried, as the counter of carte, of tierce, etc.
20. n. Same as counter-lode.
21. In boxing, to give a return blow while receiving or parrying the blow of an antagonist.
22. In boxing, to meet or return by a counter-blow: as, to counter a blow.
23. In shoemaking, to put a counter upon; furnish with a counter: as, to counter a shoe.
24. To come against; meet; encounter.
25. To come into collision; encounter.
26. n. A meeting; an encounter.
27. n. A prefix of Latin origin, being a doublet of contra-, and appearing in words of Middle English origin, or in later words formed on the analogy of such. Considered merely as an English prefix, counter- is to be referred to counter, adverb, or counter, adjective See counter.
28. n. The representative of the engineer-in-chief of a canal or similar public work, having special charge of the recording of quantities of excavation, embankment, or masonry.
29. n. The depressed part of the face of a coin, modal, or printing-type that gives relief and contrast to the raised part of the design.

Wiktionary

1. n. An object (now especially a small disc) used in counting or keeping count, or as a marker in games, etc.
2. n. curling Any stone lying closer to the center than any of the opponent's stones.
3. n. A table or board on which money is counted and over which business is transacted; a shop tabletop on which goods are examined, weighed or measured.
4. n. One who counts, or reckons up; a reckoner.
5. n. A telltale; a contrivance attached to an engine, printing press, or other machine, for the purpose of counting the revolutions or the pulsations.
6. n. historical The prison attached to a city court; a Counter.
7. n. grammar A class of word used along with numbers to count objects and events, typically mass nouns. Although rare and optional in English (e.g. "20 head of cattle"), they are numerous and required in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
8. n. In a kitchen, a surface, often built into the wall and above a cabinet, whereon various food preparations take place.
9. n. wrestling A proactive defensive hold or move in reaction to a hold or move by one's opponent.
10. n. computing, programming A variable, memory location, etc. whose contents are incremented to keep a count.
11. n. computing, Internet A hit counter.
12. adv. Contrary, in opposition; in an opposite direction.
13. n. nautical The overhanging stern of a vessel above the waterline.
14. n. by extension The piece of a shoe or a boot around the heel of the foot (above the heel of the shoe/boot).
15. v. To contradict, oppose.
16. v. boxing To return a blow while receiving one, as in boxing.
17. v. To take action in response to; to respond.
18. adj. Contrary; opposite; contrasted; opposed; adverse; antagonistic.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. One who counts, or reckons up; a calculator; a reckoner.
2. n. A piece of metal, ivory, wood, or bone, used in reckoning, in keeping account of games, etc.
3. n. obsolete Money; coin; -- used in contempt.
4. n. A prison; either of two prisons formerly in London.
5. n. A telltale; a contrivance attached to an engine, printing press, or other machine, for the purpose of counting the revolutions or the pulsations.
6. n. A table or board on which money is counted and over which business is transacted; a long, narrow table or bench, on which goods are laid for examination by purchasers, or on which they are weighed or measured.
7. adv. Contrary; in opposition; in an opposite direction; contrariwise; -- used chiefly with run or go.
8. adv. In the wrong way; contrary to the right course.
9. adv. rare At or against the front or face.
10. adj. Contrary; opposite; contrasted; opposed; adverse; antagonistic.
11. n. (Naut.) The after part of a vessel's body, from the water line to the stern, -- below and somewhat forward of the stern proper.
12. n. (Mus.) Same as Contra. Formerly used to designate any under part which served for contrast to a principal part, but now used as equivalent to counter tenor.
13. n. (Far.) The breast, or that part of a horse between the shoulders and under the neck.
14. n. The back leather or heel part of a boot.
15. n. obsolete An encounter.
16. v. (Boxing) To return a blow while receiving one, as in boxing.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. game equipment (as a piece of wood, plastic, or ivory) used for keeping a count or reserving a space in various card or board games
2. n. a piece of leather forming the back of a shoe or boot
3. n. table consisting of a horizontal surface over which business is transacted
4. n. a person who counts things
5. n. a quick reply to a question or remark (especially a witty or critical one)
6. v. act in advance of; deal with ahead of time
7. n. a return punch (especially by a boxer)
8. n. a piece of furniture that stands at the side of a dining room; has shelves and drawers
9. v. speak in response
10. n. (computer science) a register whose contents go through a regular series of states (usually states indicating consecutive integers)
11. n. a calculator that keeps a record of the number of times something happens
12. adv. in the opposite direction
13. adj. indicating opposition or resistance