witness

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. One who can give a firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experienced: a witness to the accident.
2. n. One who furnishes evidence.
3. n. Something that serves as evidence; a sign.
4. n. Law One who is called on to testify before a court.
5. n. Law One who is called on to be present at a transaction in order to attest to what takes place.
6. n. Law One who signs one's name to a document for the purpose of attesting to its authenticity.
7. n. An attestation to a fact, statement, or event; testimony.
8. n. One who publicly affirms religious faith.
9. n. A member of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
10. v. To be present at or have personal knowledge of.
11. v. To take note of; observe.
12. v. To provide or serve as evidence of. See Synonyms at indicate.
13. v. To testify to; bear witness.
14. v. To be the setting or site of: This old auditorium has witnessed many ceremonies.
15. v. To attest to the legality or authenticity of by signing one's name to.
16. v. To furnish or serve as evidence; testify.
17. v. To testify to one's religious beliefs.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In geology, an eroded fragment of former more extensive strata, remaining in testimony of that which has departed.
2. n. Testimony; attestation of a fact or event; evidence: often with bear: as, to bear witness.
3. n. One who or that which bears testimony or furnishes evidence or proof.
4. n. One who is personally present and sees some act or occurrence, or hears something spoken, and can therefore bear witness to it; a spectator.
5. n. A sponsor, as at a baptism or christening.
6. n. In law:
7. n. One who gives testimony on the trial of a cause; one who appears before a court, judge, or other officer, and is examined under oath or affirmation.
8. n. One whose testimony is offered, or desired and expected.
9. n. One in whose presence or under whose observation a fact occurred.
10. n. One who upon request by or on behalf of a party subscribes his name to an instrument to attest the genuineness of its execution: more exactly, an attesting witness or a subscribing witness.
11. n. In bookbinding, an occasional rough edge on the leaf of a bound book, which is a testimony that the leaves have not been unduly trimmed.
12. To bear witness or testimony; give evidence; testify.
13. To take witness or notice.
14. To give testimony to; testify; bear witness of, or serve as evidence of; attest; prove; show.
15. [Witness in this sense is often used in the subjunctive imperatively or optatively, in many cases with inversion.
16. To show by one's behavior; betray as a sentiment.
17. To see or know by personal presence; be a witness of; observe.
18. To see the execution of and affix one's name to (a contract, will, or other document) for the purpose of establishing its identity: as, to witness a bond or a deed.
19. To foretell; presage; foretoken.
20. =Syn.3. Perceive, Observe, etc. See see.

Wiktionary

1. n. Attestation of a fact or event; the quality of witting something.
2. n. One who has a personal knowledge of something.
3. n. Someone called to give evidence in a court.
4. n. Something that serves as evidence; a sign.
5. v. transitive To furnish proof of, to show.
6. v. transitive To take as evidence.
7. v. transitive To see, note, or gain knowledge of.
8. v. intransitive To present personal religious testimony; to preach at (someone) or on behalf of.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Attestation of a fact or an event; testimony.
2. n. That which furnishes evidence or proof.
3. n. One who is cognizant; a person who beholds, or otherwise has personal knowledge of, anything.
4. n. One who testifies in a cause, or gives evidence before a judicial tribunal.
5. n. One who sees the execution of an instrument, and subscribes it for the purpose of confirming its authenticity by his testimony; one who witnesses a will, a deed, a marriage, or the like.
6. v. To see or know by personal presence; to have direct cognizance of.
7. v. To give testimony to; to testify to; to attest.
8. v. (Law) To see the execution of, as an instrument, and subscribe it for the purpose of establishing its authenticity.
9. v. To bear testimony; to give evidence; to testify.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. perceive or be contemporaneous with
2. n. testimony by word or deed to your religious faith
3. n. a close observer; someone who looks at something (such as an exhibition of some kind)
4. n. (law) a person who testifies under oath in a court of law
5. n. (law) a person who attests to the genuineness of a document or signature by adding their own signature
6. v. be a witness to
7. n. someone who sees an event and reports what happened