follow

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To come or go after; proceed behind: Follow the usher to your seat.
2. v. To go after in or as if in pursuit: "The wrong she had done followed her and haunted her dream” ( Katherine Anne Porter).
3. v. To keep under surveillance: followed the suspect around town.
4. v. To move along the course of; take: We followed a path to the shore.
5. v. To go in the direction of; be guided by: followed the sun westward across the plains; followed the signs to the zoo.
6. v. To accept the guidance, command, or leadership of: follow a spiritual master; rebels who refused to follow their commander.
7. v. To adhere to; practice: followed family traditions.
8. v. To take as a model or precedent; imitate: followed my example and resigned.
9. v. To act in agreement or compliance with; obey: follow the rules; follow one's instincts.
10. v. To keep to or stick to: followed the recipe; follow a diet.
11. v. To engage in (a trade or occupation); work at.
12. v. To come after in order, time, or position: Night follows day.
13. v. To bring something about at a later time than or as a consequence of: She followed her lecture with a question-and-answer period. The band followed its hit record with a tour.
14. v. To occur or be evident as a consequence of: Your conclusion does not follow your premise.
15. v. To watch or observe closely: followed the bird through binoculars.
16. v. To be attentive to; pay close heed to: too sleepy to follow the sermon.
17. v. To keep oneself informed of the course, progress, or fortunes of: follow the stock market; followed the local teams.
18. v. To grasp the meaning or logic of; understand: Do you follow my argument?
19. v. To come, move, or take place after another person or thing in order or time.
20. v. To occur or be evident as a consequence; result: If you ignore your diet, trouble will follow.
21. v. To grasp the meaning or reasoning of something; understand.
22. n. The act or an instance of following.
23. n. Games A billiards shot in which the cue ball is struck above center so that it follows the path of the object ball after impact.
24. follow along To move or proceed in unison or in accord with an example: followed along with the song.
25. follow through Sports To carry a stroke to natural completion after hitting or releasing a ball or other object.
26. follow through To carry an act, project, or intention to completion; pursue fully: followed through on her promise to reorganize the department.
27. follow up To carry to completion; follow through on: followed up their recommendations with concrete proposals.
28. follow up To increase the effectiveness or enhance the success of by further action: followed up her interview with an e-mail.
29. idiom. as follows As will be stated next. Used to introduce a specified enumeration, explanation, or command.
30. idiom. follow (one's) nose To move straight ahead or in a direct path.
31. idiom. follow (one's) nose Informal To be guided by instinct: had no formal training but became a success by following his nose.
32. idiom. follow suit Games To play a card of the same suit as the one led.
33. idiom. follow suit To do as another has done; follow an example.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To go or come after; move behind in the same direction: as, the dog followed his master home; follow me.
2. To come after in natural sequence, or in order of time; succeed.
3. To engage in the pursuit of; seek to overtake or come up with; pursue; chase: as, to follow game or an enemy.
4. To pursue as an object or purpose; strive after; endeavor to obtain or attain to.
5. To keep up with, or with the course or progress of; observe or comprehend the sequence or connecting links of: as, to follow an argument, or the plot of a play.
6. To watch or regard the movements, progress, or course of: as, to follow a person with the eye.
7. To accept as a leader or guide; be led or guided by; accompany; hence, to adhere to, as disciples to a master or his teachings; accept as authority; adopt the opinions, cause, or side of.
8. To conform to; comply with; take as a guide, example, or model: as, to follow the fashion; to follow advice or admonition.
9. To engage in or be concerned with as a pursuit; pursue the duties or requirements of; carry on the business of; prosecute: as, to follow trade, a calling, or a profession; to follow the stage.
10. To result from, as an effect from a cause or an inference from premises; come after as a result or consequence: as, poverty often follows extravagance or idleness; intemperance is often followed by disease.
11. Hence— To follow the line of speech, argument, or conduct adopted by a predecessor.
12. To come or go behind; come in the wake or rear; come next, or in natural sequence or order.
13. To result as an effect from a cause or an inference from premises; be a consequent: as, from such conduct great scandal is sure to follow; the facts may be admitted, but the inference drawn from them does not follow.
14. Synonyms Follow; Succeed, Ensue. Follow and succeed, or succeed to, are applied to persons or things; ensue, in modern literature, to things only. Follow may denote the mere going in order in a track or line, and it commonly suggests that the things mentioned are near together. Succeed (transitive or intransitive), implying a regular series, denotes the being in the same place which another has held immediately before; a crowd may follow a man, but only one person or event can succeed to another; upon the death of a sovereign his oldest son succeeds him and succeeds to the throne; day follows night. To ensue is to follow close upon, to follow as the effect of some settled principle of order, to follow by a necessary connection: as, nothing but suffering can ensue from such a course.
15. n. In billiards, a stroke which causes the cue-ball to follow the object-ball after impact.
16. n. The difference in the external diameter of a spring, especially of a coiled or helical spring, when unloaded and when compressed by its working load. The torsion of the rod which forms the coil tends to increase the diameter as the spring closes.

Wiktionary

1. v. transitive To go or come after in physical space.
2. v. transitive To go or come after in a sequence.
3. v. transitive To carry out in accordance to (orders, instructions, etc).
4. v. transitive To live one's life according to (religion, teachings, etc).
5. v. transitive To understand, to pay attention to.
6. v. transitive To watch, to keep track of (reports of) some event or person.
7. v. transitive To be a logical consequence of.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To go or come after; to move behind in the same path or direction; hence, to go with (a leader, guide, etc.); to accompany; to attend.
2. v. To endeavor to overtake; to go in pursuit of; to chase; to pursue; to prosecute.
3. v. To accept as authority; to adopt the opinions of; to obey; to yield to; to take as a rule of action.
4. v. To copy after; to take as an example.
5. v. To succeed in order of time, rank, or office.
6. v. To result from, as an effect from a cause, or an inference from a premise.
7. v. To watch, as a receding object; to keep the eyes fixed upon while in motion; to keep the mind upon while in progress, as a speech, musical performance, etc.; also, to keep up with; to understand the meaning, connection, or force of, as of a course of thought or argument.
8. v. To walk in, as a road or course; to attend upon closely, as a profession or calling.
9. v. To go or come after; -- used in the various senses of the transitive verb: To pursue; to attend; to accompany; to be a result; to imitate.
10. n. The art or process of following; specif., in some games, as billiards, a stroke causing a ball to follow another ball after hitting it. Also used adjectively.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. behave in accordance or in agreement with
2. v. adhere to or practice
3. v. follow with the eyes or the mind
4. v. be the successor (of)
5. v. follow in or as if in pursuit
6. v. follow, discover, or ascertain the course of development of something
7. v. accept and follow the leadership or command or guidance of
8. v. travel along a certain course
9. v. to travel behind, go after, come after
10. v. keep informed
11. v. grasp the meaning
12. v. choose and follow; as of theories, ideas, policies, strategies or plans
13. v. come as a logical consequence; follow logically
14. v. be later in time
15. v. to bring something about at a later time than
16. v. keep to
17. v. imitate in behavior; take as a model
18. v. come after in time, as a result
19. v. to be the product or result
20. v. perform an accompaniment to
21. v. work in a specific place, with a specific subject, or in a specific function
22. v. act in accordance with someone's rules, commands, or wishes
23. v. be next
24. v. keep under surveillance