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rede en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /ɹiːd/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English red, rede, from Old English rǣd, from Proto-West Germanic *rād, from Proto-Germanic *rēdaz. Cognate with Danish råd, Dutch raad, German Rat, Swedish råd, Norwegian Bokmål råd. Indo-European cognates include Old Irish rádaid (“to speak, say, tell”). Doublet of rada.

Meanings

1. (archaic, dialectal, uncountable) Help, advice, counsel.
   • When the Bull heard these words he knew the Ass to be his friend and thanked him, saying, "Right is thy rede" 1885, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume I, [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:
   • Ophelia: Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, Whiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine, Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, And recks not his own rede. c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
   • ‘Yet do not cast all hope away. Tomorrow is unknown. Rede oft is found at the rising of the Sun.’ 1954, JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers:
2. (archaic, dialectal, uncountable) Decision, a plan.

Forms

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
read		alternative	lexicographic

Deriveds

redeless

rede en · VERB · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /ɹiːd/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English reden, ræden, from Old English rǣdan (“to counsel, advise; plot, design; rule, govern, guide; determine, decide, decree; read, explain”), from Proto-West Germanic *rādan, from Proto-Germanic *rēdaną. Cognate with German raten, Low German raden, Dutch raden. More at read.

Meanings

1. (UK, archaic, dialectal, transitive) To govern, protect.
2. (UK, archaic, dialectal, transitive) To discuss, deliberate.
3. (UK, archaic, dialectal, transitive) To advise.
   • But let me rede you, marry not. 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Dead Spy”, in The Black Arrow:
   • The meane whyle his squyer founde wryten vpon the crosse that Bagdemagus shold neuer retorne vnto the Courte ageyne / tyll he had wonne a knyȝtes body of the round table body for body / lo syr said his squyer / here I fynde wrytyng of yow / therfor I rede yow retorne ageyne to the Courte / that shalle I neuer said Bagdemagus 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter V, in Le Morte Darthur, book IV:
4. (UK, archaic, dialectal, transitive) To interpret (a riddle or dream); explain.
   • The secret of Man's Being is still like the Sphinx's secret: a riddle that he cannot rede. 1836, Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus:

Forms

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
reding	Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part		lexicographic
redd	Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part		lexicographic
redd	Tense=Past		lexicographic
red	Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part		lexicographic
red	Tense=Past		lexicographic
redes	Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres		lexicographic

Deriveds

arread · atrede · redecraft · berede · misrede · hird · riddle