Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To be or create a hindrance or obstacle.
  • intransitive verb Sports To perform an act of interference.
  • intransitive verb To intervene or intrude in the affairs of others; meddle.
  • intransitive verb To strike one hoof against the opposite hoof or leg while moving. Used of a horse.
  • intransitive verb Physics & Electronics To cause interference.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In base-ball, to obstruct unfairly a runner when he i s endeavoring to reach a base; also, so to obstruct a catcher or fielder who is endeavoring to handle or throw the ball.
  • In foot-ball, to interpose between a runner and would-be tacklers in order to assist the former.
  • To take a part in the affairs of others; especially, to intermeddle; act in such a way as to check or hamper the action of other persons or things.
  • To clash; come in collision; be in opposition: as, the claims of two nations may interfere; the two things interfere with each other.
  • In farriery, to strike one hoof or the shoe of one hoof against the fetlock of the opposite leg (of the same pair): said of a horse.
  • In physics, to act reciprocally upon one another so as to modify the effect of each, by augmenting, diminishing, or nullifying it: said of waves of light, heat, sound, water, etc. See interference, 5.
  • Synonyms Intermeddle, Intervene, etc. See interpose.

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

  • intransitive verb To come in collision; to be in opposition; to clash; -- usually used with with.
  • intransitive verb To enter into, or take a part in, the concerns of others; to intermeddle; to interpose; -- used with in or with.
  • intransitive verb To strike one foot against the opposite foot or ankle in using the legs; -- sometimes said of a human being, but usually of a horse.
  • intransitive verb (Physics) To act reciprocally, so as to augment, diminish, or otherwise affect one another; -- said of waves, rays of light, heat, etc. See Interference, 2.
  • intransitive verb (Patent Law) To cover the same ground; to claim the same invention.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive To get involved or involve oneself, causing disturbance.
  • verb intransitive, physics (of waves) To be correlated with each other when overlapped or superposed.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb get involved, so as to alter or hinder an action, or through force or threat of force
  • verb come between so as to be hindrance or obstacle

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English enterferen, from Old French s'entreferer, to strike one another : entre-, between (from Latin inter-; see inter–) + ferir, to strike (from Latin ferīre).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old French entreferir, from entre- + ferir ("to hit, to strike"), itself from the Latin verb ferio.

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