Word definition: visit

Etimology


From Middle English visiten, from Old French visiter, from Latin vīsitō, frequentative of vīsō (“behold, survey”), from videō (“see”). Cognate with Old Saxon wīsōn (“to visit, afflict”), archaic German weisen (“to visit, afflict”). Displaced native Old English sēċan (“to visit”) and sōcn (“a visit”).

verb


visit (third-person singular simple present visits, present participle visiting, simple past and past participle visited)

(transitive) To habitually go to (someone in distress, sickness etc.) to comfort them. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.) [from 13th c.]

(transitive, intransitive) To go and meet (a person) as an act of friendliness or sociability. [from 14th c.]

(transitive) Of God: to appear to (someone) to comfort, bless, or chastise or punish them. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.) [from 13th c.]

(transitive, now rare) To punish, to inflict harm upon (someone or something). [from 14th c.]

(transitive) Of a sickness, misfortune etc.: to afflict (someone). [from 14th c.]

(transitive) To inflict punishment, vengeance for (an offense) on or upon someone. [from 14th c.]

(transitive) To go to (a shrine, temple etc.) for worship. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.) [from 14th c.]

(transitive) To go to (a place) for pleasure, on an errand, etc. [from 15th c.]

Examples


She decided to visit her grandparents for Christmas.

[God] hath visited and redeemed his people.

Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread.

Her life was spared by the clemency of the emperor, but he visited the pomp and treasures of her palace.

There used to be a sharp contest as to where the effigy was to be made, for the people thought that the house from which it was carried forth would not be visited with death that year.

05-032 was right about one thing: there is only one way to defeat the enemy, and that is to visit utter annihilation on it.

If this were an Ibsen play, we would be thinking of the sins of one generation being visited upon another, he said.

Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.

Each year, millions of people visit the 4,570-meter-high Baishui Glacier in southern China.

Related words


synonyms

(go and meet):: call on

noun


visit (plural visits)

A single act of visiting.

(medicine, insurance) A meeting with a doctor at their surgery or the doctor's at one's home.

Examples


Next time you're in Manchester, give me a visit.

We paid a quick visit to James on the way up to Scotland.

There was some laughter, and Roddle was left free to expand his ideas on the periodic visits of cowboys to the town. “Mason Rickets, he had ten big punkins a-sittin' in front of his store, an' them fellers from the Upside-down-F ranch shot 'em up […].”

Data provided by Wiktionary