reader
nounUS /ˈɹidɚ/ · UK /ˈɹiːdə/
Etymology From Middle English reder, redar, redere, redare, from Old English rēdere, rǣdere (“a reader; scholar; diviner”), from Proto-West Germanic *rādāri, equivalent to read + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Räider (“advisor”), Dutch rader (“advisor”), German Rater (“advisor”).
17 senses
- 1A person who reads.
- 2A person who reads a publication.
- 3A person who recites literary works, usually to an audience.
- 4A proofreader.
- 5A person employed by a publisher to read works submitted…
- 6A position attached to aristocracy, or to the wealthy…
- 7A university lecturer ranking below a professor.
- 8Any device that reads something.
- 9A book of exercises to accompany a textbook.
- 10An elementary textbook for those learning to read…
- 11A literary anthology.
- 12A lay or minor cleric who reads lessons in a church service.
- 13A newspaper advertisement designed to look like a news…
- 14Reading glasses.
- 15Marked playing cards used by cheaters.
- 16A wallet or pocketbook.
- 17At Eton College, a lesson for which pupils are sent back…
A person who reads.
- an early reader, a talented reader
A person who reads a publication.
- 10,000 weekly readers
- In its May 1965 issue, Life magazine condemned skateboards as a “menace to limb and even to life,” and cautioned readers about riders who “take over the paths made for peaceful strollers.”2018 July 13, Jaime Marie Davis, “How photographers have captured skateboarding through generations”, in CNN, archived from the original on 18 Mar 2025:
A person who recites literary works, usually to an audience.
A proofreader.
A person employed by a publisher to read works submitted for publication and determine their merits.
- They were dog-eared by the hands of many a publisher's-reader and postman.1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter VIII, in Capricornia, page 123:
A position attached to aristocracy, or to the wealthy, with the task of reading aloud, often in a foreign language.
- "I am commissioned by the Queen to offer you the place of Italian reader; and I assure you the offer was made with many kind expressions of interest. You will enter upon the duties, which are almost nominal, immediately."1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 83–84:
UK A university lecturer ranking below a professor.
Any device that reads something.
- a card reader, a microfilm reader
- The reMarkable PDF reader is really targeted at the digital writing market, rather than the digital reading market, though most serious e-readers support pens for annotations and signatures.2019 June 27, Jack Schofield, “What’s the best cheap tablet or e-reader for PDF files?”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 27 Apr 2023:
1 more example
- A quick search on Kaiser's website, there was nothing that talked about plate readers or a usage policy.2023 December 1, Da Lin, “Privacy advocates accuse Kaiser of not following state law on license plate readers”, in CBS News, archived from the original on 22 Feb 2024:
A book of exercises to accompany a textbook.
An elementary textbook for those learning to read, especially for foreign languages.
- Appletons’ School Readers
A literary anthology.
- A good bedtime reader should entertain and delight, and that's what I find in Girard Kent's The Boy Harleqin ^([sic]) and Other Stories.1981 December 1, Thomas Hopkinson, “Streetboy Dreams; The Boy Harlequin and Other Stories (review)”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 20, page 10:
A lay or minor cleric who reads lessons in a church service.
Advertising, Business, Marketing A newspaper advertisement designed to look like a news article rather than a commercial solicitation.
In plural Reading glasses.
- LUMINOUS READERS—Marked cards that can be read only through tinted glasses.1961, United States. Congress. Senate. Government Operations, Gambling and Organized Crime, Parts 1, 2, 3. 87-1, page 286:
- Of the 150,000,000 decks of cards sold each year in America, Scarne estimates that 1 percent get marked at some point. Yet, as he discovered in his 1972 gambling survey, only 2 percent of average players have any idea of how to detect these "readers."1991, John Bowyer Bell, Barton Whaley, Cheating and Deception, page 185:
- […] Q was a Queer-screen, that served as a blind; / R was a Reader, with flimsies well lined; […]1846, George William MacArthur Reynolds, The Mysteries of London, page 60:
At Eton College, a lesson for which pupils are sent back to their separate school houses.
- Antonyms
- nonreader
- Derived terms
- book-reader, exercise for the reader, mind-reader, proof-reader, readerbase, readerboard, reader copy, readerdom, readeress, readerless, readerly, readership, rip-and-reader, sight-reader, stall-reader
- Hyponyms
32 terms
barcode reader, beta reader, blind reader, card reader, copyreader, counterreader, early reader, easy reader, e-book reader, email reader, e-reader, feedreader, first reader, hyperreader, interreader, intrareader, lay reader, lipreader, microplate reader, microreader, mind reader, newsreader, palm reader, plate reader, playreader, prereader, proof reader, scorereader, screen reader, sensitivity reader, subreader, wreader