returner

return ► VERB 1) come or go back to a place. 2) (return to) go back to (a particular state or activity). 3) give or send back or put back in place. 4) feel, say, or do (the same feeling, action, etc.) in response. 5) (in tennis) hit or send (the ball) back to an opponent. 6) (of a judge or jury) state or present (a verdict). 7) yield or make (a profit). 8) (of an electorate) elect to office.

► NOUN 1) an act or the action of returning. 2) a profit from an investment. 3) chiefly Brit. a ticket allowing travel to a place and back again. 4) (in sport) a second contest between the same opponents. 5) a ticket for an event that has been returned because no longer wanted. 6) an official report or statement submitted in response to a formal demand: census returns. 7) Architecture a part receding from the line of the front, for example the side of a house or of a window opening.

● by return of post — Cf. ↑by return of post

● many happy returns of the day — Cf. ↑many happy returns of the day

DERIVATIVES returnable adjective returner noun.

ORIGIN Old French returner, from Latin tornare 'to turn' .