direct

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To manage or conduct the affairs of; regulate.
2. v. To have or take charge of; control. See Synonyms at conduct.
3. v. To give authoritative instructions to: directed the student to answer.
4. v. To cause to move toward a goal; aim. See Synonyms at aim.
5. v. To show or indicate the way for: directed us to the airport.
6. v. To cause to move in or follow a straight course: directed their fire at the target.
7. v. To indicate the intended recipient on (a letter, for example).
8. v. To address or adapt (remarks, for example) to a specific person, audience, or purpose.
9. v. To give guidance and instruction to (actors or musicians, for example) in the rehearsal and performance of a work.
10. v. To supervise the performance of.
11. v. To give commands or directions.
12. v. To conduct a performance or rehearsal.
13. adj. Proceeding without interruption in a straight course or line; not deviating or swerving: a direct route.
14. adj. Straightforward and candid; frank: a direct response.
15. adj. Having no intervening persons, conditions, or agencies; immediate: direct contact; direct sunlight.
16. adj. Effected by action of the voters, rather than through elected representatives or delegates: direct elections.
17. adj. Being of unbroken descent; lineal: a direct descendant of the monarch.
18. adj. Consisting of the exact words of the writer or speaker: a direct quotation; direct speech.
19. adj. Lacking compromising or mitigating elements; absolute: direct opposites.
20. adj. Mathematics Varying in the same manner as another quantity, especially increasing if another quantity increases or decreasing if it decreases.
21. adj. Astronomy Designating west-to-east motion of a planet in the same direction as the sun's movement against the stars.
22. adj. Sports Being a free kick in soccer by which a goal can be scored without the ball being touched by a second player.
23. adv. Straight; directly.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Straight; undeviating; not oblique, crooked, circuitous, refracted, or collateral: as, to pass in a direct lino from one body or place to another; a direct course or aim; a direct ray of light; direct descent (that is, descent in an unbroken line through male ancestors).
2. In astronomy, appearing to move forward in the zodiac according to the natural order and succession of the signs, or from west to east: opposed to retrograde: as, the motion of a planet is direct
3. Having a character, relation, or action analogous to that of straightness of direction or motion: as, a direct interest (that is, part ownership) in a property or business.
4. In the natural, unreflecting way; proceeding by a simple method to attain an object; without modifying one's procedure owing to recondite considerations; explicit; free from the influence of extraneous circumstances. Thus, a direct accusation is one made with the avowed intent of bringing the alleged offender to justice: opposed to a speech or writing which has the same effect without the avowal of the purpose, or perhaps not even of the meaning.
5. Plain; express; not ambiguous; straight forward; positive: as, he made a direct acknowledgment.
6. Straightforward; characterized by the absence of equivocation or ambiguousness; open; ingenuous; sincere.
7. In logic, proceeding from antecedent to consequent, from cause to effect, etc.
8. To point or aim in a straight line toward a place or an object; cause to move, act, or work toward a certain object or end; determine in respect to direction: as, to direct an arrow or a piece of ordnance; to direct the eye; to direct a course or flight.
9. To point out or make known a course to; impart information or advice to for guidance: as, to direct a person to his destination; he directed his friend's attention to an improved method.
10. To control the course of; regulate; guide or lead; govern; cause to proceed in a particular manner: as, to direct the steps of a child, or the affairs of a nation.
11. To order; instruct; point out to, as a course of proceeding, with authority; prescribe to.
12. In music, to conduct; lead (a company of vocal or instrumental performers) as conductor or director.
13. To superscribe; write the name and address of the recipient on; address: as, to direct a letter or a package.
14. To aim or point at, as discourse; address.
15. In astrology, to calculate the arc of the equator between the significator and the promoter.
16. To act as a guide; point out a course; exercise power or authority in guiding.
17. In music, to act as director or conductor.
18. n. In musicalnotation, the sign placed at the end of a staff or of a page to indicate to the performer the position of the first note of the next staff or page.
19. In a direct manner; directly; straight: as, he went direct to the point.
20. In mathematics, according to the natural order or correlation: in contradistinction to inverse.

Wiktionary

1. adj. Straight, constant, without interruption.
2. adv. Directly.
3. v. To manage, control, steer.
4. v. To aim (something) at (something else).

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. Straight; not crooked, oblique, or circuitous; leading by the short or shortest way to a point or end
2. adj. Straightforward; not of crooked ways, or swerving from truth and openness; sincere; outspoken.
3. adj. Immediate; express; plain; unambiguous.
4. adj. In the line of descent; not collateral.
5. adj. (Astron.) In the direction of the general planetary motion, or from west to east; in the order of the signs; not retrograde; -- said of the motion of a celestial body.
6. adj. (Political Science) Pertaining to, or effected immediately by, action of the people through their votes instead of through one or more representatives or delegates.
7. v. To arrange in a direct or straight line, as against a mark, or towards a goal; to point; to aim.
8. v. To point out or show to (any one), as the direct or right course or way; to guide, as by pointing out the way.
9. v. To determine the direction or course of; to cause to go on in a particular manner; to order in the way to a certain end; to regulate; to govern.
10. v. To point out to with authority; to instruct as a superior; to order.
11. v. To put a direction or address upon; to mark with the name and residence of the person to whom anything is sent; to superscribe.
12. v. To give direction; to point out a course; to act as guide.
13. n. (Mus.) A character, thus [�], placed at the end of a staff on the line or space of the first note of the next staff, to apprise the performer of its situation.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. lead, as in the performance of a composition
2. v. be in charge of
3. adj. moving from west to east on the celestial sphere; or--for planets--around the sun in the same direction as the Earth
4. v. give directions to; point somebody into a certain direction
5. v. intend (something) to move towards a certain goal
6. v. specifically design a product, event, or activity for a certain public
7. v. cause to go somewhere
8. adj. having no intervening persons, agents, conditions
9. adj. direct in spatial dimensions; proceeding without deviation or interruption; straight and short
10. v. plan and direct (a complex undertaking)
11. v. put an address on (an envelope)
12. v. guide the actors in (plays and films)
13. v. point or cause to go (blows, weapons, or objects such as photographic equipment) towards
14. v. direct the course; determine the direction of travelling
15. adj. in a straight unbroken line of descent from parent to child
16. v. command with authority
17. adj. straightforward in means or manner or behavior or language or action
18. adj. similar in nature or effect or relation to another quantity
19. adj. (of a current) flowing in one direction only
20. adj. lacking compromising or mitigating elements; exact.
21. v. take somebody somewhere
22. adj. being an immediate result or consequence
23. adv. without deviation
24. adj. in precisely the same words used by a writer or speaker