Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Against; contrary or antagonistic to.
  • noun A meeting; an encounter.
  • 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.
  • 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 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.

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

  • 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.
  • adjective (Law) a secret writing which destroys, invalidates, or alters, a public deed.
  • adjective [Obs.] contradistinction.
  • adjective a drain at the foot of the embankment of a canal or watercourse, for carrying off the water that may soak through.
  • adjective (Surg.) the fixation of the upper part of a limb, while extension is practiced on the lower part, as in cases of luxation or fracture.
  • adjective (Surg.) Same as Contrafissure.
  • adjective (Med.) Same as Contraindication.
  • adjective (Med.) an irritant to produce a blister, a pustular eruption, or other irritation in some part of the body, in order to relieve an existing irritation in some other part.
  • adjective (Med.) the act or the result of applying a counter irritant.
  • adjective an aperture or vent on the opposite side, or in a different place.
  • adjective (Mil.) a word in addition to the password, given in time of alarm as a signal.
  • adjective (Law) a replication to a plea.
  • adjective force or pressure that acts in a contrary direction to some other opposing pressure.
  • adjective a project, scheme, or proposal brought forward in opposition to another, as in the negotiation of a treaty.
  • adjective in engraving, a print taken off from another just printed, which, by being passed through the press, gives a copy in reverse, and of course in the same position as that of plate from which the first was printed, the object being to enable the engraver to inspect the state of the plate.
  • adjective a revolution opposed to a former one, and restoring a former state of things.
  • adjective one engaged in, or befriending, a counter revolution.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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

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-.

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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