Part 271

(e) To be or act an equivalent to, or as adequate or sufficient for; to serve for; to repay. [R.]

Money answereth all things. Eccles. x. 19.

(f) To be or act in accommodation, conformity, relation, or proportion to; to correspond to; to suit.

Weapons must needs be dangerous things, if they answered the bulk of so prodigious a person. Swift.

An"swer, v. i. 1. To speak or write by way of return (originally, to a charge), or in reply; to make response.

There was no voice, nor any that answered. 1 Kings xviii. 26.

2. To make a satisfactory response or return. Hence: To render account, or to be responsible; to be accountable; to make amends; as, the man must answer to his employer for the money intrusted to his care.

Let his neck answer for it, if there is any martial law. Shak.

3. To be or act in return. Hence: (a) To be or act by way of compliance, fulfillment, reciprocation, or satisfaction; to serve the purpose; as, gypsum answers as a manure on some soils.

Do the strings answer to thy noble hand? Dryden.

(b) To be opposite, or to act in opposition. (c) To be or act as an equivalent, or as adequate or sufficient; as, a very few will answer. (d) To be or act in conformity, or by way of accommodation, correspondence, relation, or proportion; to conform; to correspond; to suit; -- usually with to.

That the time may have all shadow and silence in it, and the place answer to convenience. Shak.

If this but answer to my just belief, I 'll remember you. Shak.

As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man. Pro&?;. xxvii. 19.

An"swer, n. [OE. andsware, AS. andswaru; and against + swerian to swear. &?;, &?;. See Anti-, and Swear, and cf. 1st un-.] 1. A reply to a change; a defense.

At my first answer no man stood with me. 2 Tim. iv. 16.

2. Something said or written in reply to a question, a call, an argument, an address, or the like; a reply.

A soft answer turneth away wrath. Prov. xv. 1.

I called him, but he gave me no answer. Cant. v. 6.

3. Something done in return for, or in consequence of, something else; a responsive action.

Great the slaughter is Here made by the Roman; great the answer be Britons must take. Shak.

4. A solution, the result of a mathematical operation; as, the answer to a problem.

5. (Law) A counter-statement of facts in a course of pleadings; a confutation of what the other party has alleged; a responsive declaration by a witness in reply to a question. In Equity, it is the usual form of defense to the complainant's charges in his bill. Bouvier.

Syn. -- Reply; rejoinder; response. See Reply.

An"swer*a*ble (&?;), a. 1. Obliged to answer; liable to be called to account; liable to pay, indemnify, or make good; accountable; amenable; responsible; as, an agent is answerable to his principal; to be answerable for a debt, or for damages.

Will any man argue that . . . he can not be justly punished, but is answerable only to God? Swift.

2. Capable of being answered or refuted; admitting a satisfactory answer.

The argument, though subtle, is yet answerable. Johnson.