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Read·ing

(rĕdĭng)

1. A borough of south-central England west of London. Occupied by the Danes in 871, it was chartered in 1253.

2. A city of southeast Pennsylvania on the Schuykill River northwest of Philadelphia. Settled in 1748, it is an important commercial, industrial, and transportation center.

read·ing

(rēdĭng)

1. The act or activity of one that reads.

2. The act or practice of rendering aloud written or printed matter: skilled at forensic reading.

3. An official or public recitation of written material: the reading of a will; a reading by the poet of her own works.

a. The specific form of a particular passage in a text: a manuscript with a variant reading.

b. The distinctive interpretation of a work of performing art given by the person or persons performing it.

5. An interpretation or appraisal: He gave us his reading of the situation.

6. Written or printed material: The survivors' account is fascinating reading.

7. The information indicated by a gauge or graduated instrument.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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