Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A counting-room.
  • noun A table or board on which money is counted; a table in a shop on which goods are laid for examination by purchasers.
  • noun 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.
  • Adverse; opposite; contrary; opposing; antagonistic.
  • noun A meeting; an encounter.
  • noun One who counts or reckons; a computer; an auditor.
  • noun An apparatus for keeping count of revolutions or other movements.
  • noun 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.
  • noun A piece of money; a coin; in plural, money.
  • noun In early English law, an attorney or serjeant at law retained to conduct a cause in court.
  • 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.
  • In the wrong way; contrary to the right course; in the reverse direction; contrariwise.
  • Directly in front; in or at the face.
  • To come against; meet; encounter.
  • To come into collision; encounter.
  • In boxing, to give a return blow while receiving or parrying the blow of an antagonist.
  • In boxing, to meet or return by a counter-blow: as, to counter a blow.
  • In shoemaking, to put a counter upon; furnish with a counter: as, to counter a shoe.
  • noun 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.
  • noun That which is counter or antagonistic; an opposite.
  • noun 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.
  • noun That part of a horse's breast which lies between the shoulders and under the neck.
  • noun 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.
  • noun The stiff leather forming the back part of a shoe or boot surrounding the heel of the wearer. See cut under boot.
  • noun 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.
  • noun Same as counter-lode.
  • noun 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.
  • Against; contrary or antagonistic to.
  • noun 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.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun 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.
  • noun (Stock Exchanges), [Cant] without a prescription; needing no prescription; -- said of medicines that can be legally bought without a physician's prescription.
  • noun One who counts, or reckons up; a calculator; a reckoner.
  • noun A piece of metal, ivory, wood, or bone, used in reckoning, in keeping account of games, etc.
  • noun obsolete Money; coin; -- used in contempt.
  • noun A prison; either of two prisons formerly in London.
  • noun A telltale; a contrivance attached to an engine, printing press, or other machine, for the purpose of counting the revolutions or the pulsations.
  • noun (Naut.) The after part of a vessel's body, from the water line to the stern, -- below and somewhat forward of the stern proper.
  • noun (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.
  • noun (Far.) The breast, or that part of a horse between the shoulders and under the neck.
  • noun The back leather or heel part of a boot.
  • intransitive verb (Boxing) To return a blow while receiving one, as in boxing.
  • adverb Contrary; in opposition; in an opposite direction; contrariwise; -- used chiefly with run or go.
  • adverb In the wrong way; contrary to the right course.
  • adverb rare At or against the front or face.
  • noun obsolete An encounter.
  • adjective Contrary; opposite; contrasted; opposed; adverse; antagonistic.
  • adjective (Fort.) a trench or work pushed forward from defensive works to meet the approaches of besiegers. See Approach.
  • adjective (Law) in old practice, a bond to secure one who has given bond for another.
  • adjective See Counter brace, in Vocabulary.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French contre, Anglo-Norman cuntre, both from Latin contra.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From counter-.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Anglo-Norman countour, from Old French conteor (French comptoir), from Medieval Latin computatorium, from Latin computare.

Support

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Examples

  • IV. ii.39 (193,5) [A hound that runs counter, and yet draws dry-foot well] To _run counter_ is to _run backward_, by mistaking the course of the animal pursued; to _draw dry-foot_ is, I believe, to pursue by the _track_ or _prick of the foot_; to _run counter_ and _draw dry-foot well are_, therefore, inconsistent.

    Notes to Shakespeare — Volume 01: Comedies Samuel Johnson 1746

  • Please try this sample: public class Test private int counter = 0; private static int scount = 0; public Test () ++counter;

    ASP.NET Forums sureshknight 2010

  • C++ Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) for (counter = 1; counter < = 10; counter++) for (counter = 1; counter < = 10; counter++)

    DaniWeb IT Discussion Community 2009

  • Loop, Parse, carpet, % y%, c%in%: = A_LoopField if (counter = z) c1: = A_LoopField if (counter > z) c%counter%: = A_LoopField counter+ = 1 counter - = 1

    AutoHotkey Community 2009

  • C++ Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) for (counter = 1; counter < = 10; counter++) for (counter = 1; counter < = 10; counter++)

    DaniWeb IT Discussion Community 2009

  • The Iran Research Corporation also says officials should use the term counter terrorism rather than war on terror.

    CNN Transcript Jul 29, 2008 2008

  • The Rand Research Center said the term counter terrorism is better, saying it would help the perception that they are criminals, not holy warriors.

    CNN Transcript Jul 29, 2008 2008

  • Web to refer to the alternate horizontal open structure of info - exchange, the non-hierarchic network, and reserve the term counter-Net to indicate clandestine illegal and rebellious use of the Web, including actual data-piracy and other forms of leeching off the Net itself.

    home 2009

  • Web to refer to the alternate horizontal open structure of info - exchange, the non-hierarchic network, and reserve the term counter-Net to indicate clandestine illegal and rebellious use of the Web, including actual data-piracy and other forms of leeching off the Net itself.

    home 2009

  • Web to refer to the alternate horizontal open structure of info - exchange, the non-hierarchic network, and reserve the term counter-Net to indicate clandestine illegal and rebellious use of the Web, including actual data-piracy and other forms of leeching off the Net itself.

    home 2009

  • But the concept of a “counter cake,” she adds, is far older: “It’s something that’s been around for a long time, to have a pound cake or something that you can have a little slice of in the afternoon.”

    How Snack Cakes Sold a New Generation on an Old Concept Jaya Saxena 2023

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