Definitions

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

  • noun The act or activity of one that reads.
  • noun The act or practice of rendering aloud written or printed matter.
  • noun An official or public recitation of written material.
  • noun The specific form of a particular passage in a text.
  • noun The distinctive interpretation of a work of performing art given by the person or persons performing it.
  • noun An interpretation or appraisal.
  • noun Written or printed material.
  • noun The information indicated by a gauge or graduated instrument.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Inclined to read; having a taste for reading; of a studious disposition: as, a reading community.
  • noun The act of interpreting; interpretation; exposition, as of a riddle or dream; interpretation of signs, marks, or the like; a rendering or discovery of what is signified by the state or marking of an instrument, by arbitrary signs of any kind, or by the existing condition or action of anything: as, the readings of a steam-indicator; a correct reading of the sky (as to weather), or of a person's countenance or proceedings.
  • noun The particular interpretation given to a composition of any kind, an event or a series of events, etc.; also, a rendering in speech, act, or performance; delineation; representation.
  • noun The act of perusing that which is written or printed; perusal.
  • noun The utterance or recital of recorded words, either from the record (as a printed page) or from memory; specifically, a public lection or lecture: as, to give readings from the poets, or upon law or philosophy. See read, intransitive verb, 6.
  • noun That which is read or to be read; any written or printed medium of thought or intelligence; recorded matter or material.
  • noun The indication of a graduated instrument: as, the reading of a barometer.
  • noun Textual structure or construction; a form, expression, or collocation in a writing, or in a particular copy or impression of it; a version: as, the various readings of a passage in Shakspere; the reading seems to be corrupt.

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

  • adjective Of or pertaining to the act of reading; used in reading.
  • adjective Addicted to reading.
  • adjective a book for teaching reading; a reader.
  • adjective a desk to support a book while reading; esp., a desk used while reading the service in a church.
  • adjective a large lens with more or less magnifying power, attached to a handle, and used in reading, etc.
  • adjective one who reads much; hence, in the English universities, a close, industrious student.
  • adjective a room appropriated to reading; a room provided with papers, periodicals, and the like, to which persons resort.
  • noun The act of one who reads; perusal; also, printed or written matter to be read.
  • noun Study of books; literary scholarship.
  • noun A lecture or prelection; public recital.
  • noun The way in which anything reads; force of a word or passage presented by a documentary authority; lection; version.
  • noun Cant Manner of reciting, or acting a part, on the stage; way of rendering.
  • noun An observation read from the scale of a graduated instrument.
  • noun (Legislation) its formal recital, by the proper officer, before the House which is to consider it.

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

  • verb Present participle of read.
  • noun The process of interpreting written language.
  • noun The process of interpreting a symbol, a sign or a measuring device.
  • noun A value indicated by a measuring device.
  • noun A meeting where written material is read aloud.
  • noun An interpretation.

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

  • noun a public instance of reciting or repeating (from memory) something prepared in advance
  • noun written material intended to be read
  • noun a datum about some physical state that is presented to a user by a meter or similar instrument
  • noun a mental representation of the meaning or significance of something
  • noun the cognitive process of understanding a written linguistic message
  • noun a city on the River Thames in Berkshire in southern England
  • noun a particular interpretation or performance
  • noun the act of measuring with meters or similar instruments

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From read +‎ -ing.

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Examples

  • But for this Saturday, I agreed to do a reading just so I can bring Michael and introduce him to a *poetry reading*.

    INCREASINGLY RARE READING 2009

  • If an originalist reading of the Constitution does not reveal such a liberty — relying on the received meaning of the ­Constitution's words at the time they were ­written — Justice Kennedy's moral ­reading does.

    The Decider 2009

  • But for this Saturday, I agreed to do a reading just so I can bring Michael and introduce him to a *poetry reading*.

    Archive 2009-10-01 2009

  • [Illustration: "A Solemn Gentleman, with a troublesome cough, reading aloud to his Wife."] _Miss P. _ (_standing opposite "The Flight into Egypt" reading_).

    Punch, Or The London Charivari, Volume 102, January 16, 1892 Various

  • When we consider the extreme cheapness of books in the United States, and the enormous price of them in this country, the facilities of reading them there, and the difficulty attending it here from the above cause, I have no hesitation in saying, that as a _reading nation_, the

    Diary in America, Series Two Frederick Marryat 1820

  • His own reading was inconsiderable; and he used to say, that if he had spent as much time in _reading_ as other men of learning, he should have been as _ignorant_ as they.

    Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of 3) Isaac Disraeli 1807

  • Generally the secret to reading lots of books is *consistent reading* eg I cannot say I have watched a movie end to end this year, I just sped forward through several I tried but bored me quickly, I have no clue what's on TV except from online headlines and gaming is something I help my son with once in a while with but never play for myself - so if you think of all the TV/gaming/movie time translated into book reading time and you will see that 2-4 hours of reading daily is achievable and consistent with family, work... and good book selection/mix so you always have books that fit your mood, you do not get burned out on one genre...

    Liviu's Top Books of 2009 Liviu 2009

  • reading assignments •access the learning materials •Students know the general scope of • learning materials •access the reading the learning unit •learning activities •Students start thinking about the assignments •assignments •access the supplementary learning unit content

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2009

  • Avoid all products containing polyurethane foam with a label reading TB117, which means it has likely been treated with toxic flame retardants.

    Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff: Flame Retardants Refuse to Burn Out Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff 2012

  • Avoid all products containing polyurethane foam with a label reading TB117, which means it has likely been treated with toxic flame retardants.

    Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff: Flame Retardants Refuse to Burn Out Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff 2012

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