▪ I. register, n.1
(ˈrɛdʒɪstə(r))
Forms: 4–6 regestre, -gistre, 5–6 regester, (5 -tyr), regyster, (5 -tre), 6 regesto(u)r, 5– register.
[a. F. registre, † regestre (12th c.), or med.L. registrum, regestrum, for regestum, from the late L. pl. regesta matters recorded, a record, list, f. regerĕre to record, set down, f. re- re- + gerĕre to carry (see congest, digest, etc.).
The intrusive r of the F. and med.L. forms is due to the analogy of other ns. in F. -istre (for -iste), L. -istrum. Some of the senses placed under II have app. arisen by false association with F. regir, L. regĕre, to rule, regulate.]
I. 1. a. A book or volume in which regular entry is made of particulars or details of any kind which are considered of sufficient importance to be exactly and formally recorded; a written record or collection of entries thus formed; † a list, catalogue; a record of attendance at a school.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xx. 269, I wolde witterly þat ȝe were in þe registre, And ȝowre noumbre vnder notaries sygne. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 113 Thy fadyr mad fewtee, we fynde in oure rollez, In the regestre of Rome. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. xv. (1885) 149 Oþer artycles..mowe be..putt in a boke, and that boke kept in this counsell as a registir or a ordinarye. 1479 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 421 A Registre of the same to remayn with the Maire. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 347 There is a register of bokes, which thuniversity of Louain hath rejected. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 129 b, It is not needefull to make a Register of all y⊇ testimonies of writers. 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 28 Seven Scribes..who had.. enough to doe to..keep Registers of the Martyrs that were put to death. a 1715 Burnet Own Time i. (1724) I. 88 He kept a register of all the King's promises. 1778 W. H. Marshall Observ. Agric. 151, I began, on Tuesday the 19{supt}{suph} of August, an Experimental Register of the State of the Atmosphere. 1805 Med. Jrnl. XIV. 195 He was so good as to visit his patient, and examine his register. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India III. 294 The results of the general survey were embodied in a map; those of the field survey were preserved in village registers. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. x, With a number of leathery old registers on shelves. 1887 C. D. Warner Their Pilgrimage (1888) vi. 165 Mr. King discovered by the register that the Bensons had been there. 1888 C. M. Yonge Our New Mistress ii. 14 She called over the names... The registers had got into a muddle, and there was no knowing who had left school and who was only absent. a 1930 D. H. Lawrence Phoenix II (1968) 22 One day my bread-stealer arrived at half past two, when the register was closed. 1955 E. Blishen Roaring Boys iv. 183, I called the register... The ginger-haired boy answered to the name of Grange. 1961 M. Spark Prime of Miss Jean Brodie iii. 59, I must mark the register for today before we forget. There are two new girls. 1978 R. Mills Comprehensive Educ. 44 His lessons..began with the calling of the register. |
| transf. and fig. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. viii. 182 Thei entre into the regestre of their stories. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. ii. 195 As you haue one eye vpon my follies, as you heare them vnfolded, turne another into the Register of your owne. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iii. x. 176 Abuse not thy Memory to be Sinnes Register. 1726 Pope Odyss. xx. 91 The God supreme, to whose eternal eye The registers of fate expanded lie. 1817 Chalmers Astron. Disc. ii. (1852) 65, I may put into the registers of my belief, all that comes home to me through the senses of the outer man. 1863 Dana Man. Geol. 734 The Pacific Ocean..has registers of subsidence all over it, in its coral islands. |
b. A note or mark serving as a record.
| 1883 Hardwich's Photogr. Chem. (ed. Taylor) 343 On a corner of the glass is scratched with a diamond 1, 2, &c., as the case might be. The register will serve for future printings from the same Negative. |
c. A person's face, regarded as an indication of feeling or emotion.
slang.| 1899 ‘J. Flynt’ Tramping with Tramps ii. iv. 271, I hain't seen your register for many a day. |
† 2. As a title:
a. of the Epistles of Gregory the Great.
Obs. After the L. title
Registrum or
Regestum (
epistolarum).
| c 1380 Antecrist in Todd Three Treat. Wyclif (1851) 118 As seynte Gregore seiþ in þe fyveþe boke of his registre. 1494 Fabyan Chron. v. cxix. 95 Which answers are wrytten with other questions in the regestre of Gregory. |
b. of a compilation containing the forms of writs of the Common Law, cited by English lawyers of the 16–17th c.
Obs. The full title was ‘the Register of Writs’, or ‘of the Chancery’; see Cowell
Interpr. and Blount
Law Dict. s.v.| 1544 tr. Littleton's Tenures 3 b, So it shalbe sayd in dyuers other wryttes..as it appereth by the register. 1598 J. Manwood Lawes Forest ix. §5. 53 In the Register in the writ of Ad quod dampnum, there the woord is Assertare. 1628 Coke On Litt. 73 b, It appeareth by the Register that the king shal haue escuage of his tenants which hold of him. |
3. a. In
Sc. use, the general term (current from the 15th c.) for records of a legal, parliamentary, or public character; in later use
spec. those instituted by the Act of 1617, in which all documents affecting landed property are recorded.
| 1425 Sc. Acts Jas. I (1814) II. 9/1 Þat all & sindry..present þar lettres..at þai may be put in þe kingis Register til perpetuale memore. 1566 (title) The Actis and Constitutiounis of the Realme of Scotland..viseit, correctit, and extractit furth of the Registers. 1577 in Acts Parl. Scot. (1844) I. Pref. 25 note, The Registeris of the decreittis gevin be the Lordis of Counsale. 1617 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1816) IV. 546/1 Thair salbe ane publick Register In the whiche all Reuersiones,..grantis off redemptioun and siclyik all enstrumentis of seasing salbe registrat within thriescore dayes efter þe date of the same. 1708 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. ii. iii. v. (1710) 443 The Law of Scotland is easy and regular, by reason of Public Registers,..for recording Conveyances of the Lands and Possessions of private Subjects. 1837 Penny Cycl. IX. 274/2 What is almost peculiar to this part of the empire, the register of all deeds conveying or changing territorial property. 1877 Act 40 & 41 Vict. c. 40 §5 The keeper..of the register of deeds and probative writs. Ibid. §6 Where any writ..shall have been registered in the General Register of Sasines. |
b. Clerk of (the) Register, now
Lord Clerk Register: originally the clerk who kept the King's register, in later times a Scottish officer of state, who formerly had custody of the national records or registers, but is now represented in that capacity by the Deputy Clerk Register.
In early use the Latin genitive
registri sometimes appears: in the modern form there is
perh. confusion with
n.2| 1457 Sc. Acts Jas. II (1814) II. 52/2 Þe lordis thinkis speidfull þat oure souerane lorde commande all his schirrefis and commissaris of burowis to cum to þe clerk of his Regestre [etc.]. 1542 Sc. Acts Mary (1814) II. 414/1 Hir hienes..ordanis þe clerk of registri and Justice clerk [etc.]. Ibid. 415/2 Maister James foulis of colintoun Clerk of registeris askit Instrumentis. 1607 in Acts Parl. Scot. (1844) I. Pref. 13 Proclamation is made throughout the Kingdome, to deliver in to the King's Clearke of Register (whom you heere [at Whitehall] call the Master of the Rolles) all Bills to be exhibited that Session. 1644 D. Hume Hist. Ho. Douglas 358 Master John Skeene, Clerk-Register, and Master of the Rols. 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4139/1 A Commission to Sir James Murray to be Clerk-Register. 1794 Inv. R. Wardrobes (1815) App. ii. 358 And there was produced to the Commissioners, by the Lord Clerk Register's Deputies for keeping the records, a public and solemn instrument. 1844 C. Innes Pref. Acts Parl. Scot. I. 13 note, The Fourth Annual Report of the Deputy Clerk Register of Scotland. 1879 Act 42 & 43 Vict. c. 44 §2 The Lord Clerk Register shall continue to be one of the officers of state of Scotland. Ibid. §4 In his absence..the Deputy Clerk Register shall have and may exercise the said rights. |
4. As the name of certain official or authoritative records or books of record having some public or commercial importance:
e.g. a. of the baptisms, marriages, and burials in a parish, kept by the clergyman; or (in later use) of births, marriages, and deaths, kept by an official (a
registrar) appointed for the purpose.
| 1538 Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) II. 154 That yow and euery parson vicare or curate within this diocese shall for euery churche kepe one boke or registre wherein ye shall write the day and yere of every weddyng christenyng and buryeng. 1603 Constit. & Canons Eccl. lxx, Ministers to Keepe a Register of Christenings, Weddings, and Burials. a 1676 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. ii. viii. (1677) 205 The strict and vigilant Observance of the..Registers of the Bills of Births and Deaths. 1753 Act 26 Geo. II, c. 33 §14 Immediately after the Celebration of every Marriage, an entry thereof shall be made in such Register. 1791 Boswell Johnson (1831) I. 1 His baptism is recorded, in the register of St. Mary's parish. 1836 Act 6 & 7 Will. IV, c. 86 §49 marg., Registers of Baptisms and Burials may be kept as heretofore. 1848 Dickens Dombey v, The register signed, and the fees paid [etc.]. 1874 Act 37 & 38 Vict. c. 88 §49 The registrar..who keeps the register in which the birth or death..is..registered. |
b. of seamen in the British mercantile marine.
| 1695–6 Act 7 & 8 Will. III, c. 21 §1 In the said Register or Registers, there shall be truly and faithfully Entred..the Names, Sirnames [etc.]. 1754 Ess. Manning Fleet 9 In, or about the Year 1696, a Register for Seamen was opened..by what Accidents it fail'd, I cannot say. 1835 Act 5 & 6 Will. IV, c. 19 §19 And whereas it is expedient that a Register should be formed and maintained of all the ‘Mariners and Seafaring Men of the United Kingdom’. 1863 A. Young Naut. Dict. (ed. 2) 306 The register being compiled from the agreements with seamen &c. |
c. of shipping, containing particulars of construction, materials, size, ownership, etc.; also, a cetificate issued by the registering official,
esp. as evidence of the nationality of the vessel.
| 1825 Act 6 Geo. IV, c. 110 §48 The Force and Effect of any Register granted to any Ship or Vessel. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy xxxviii, The brigantine, which had taken out her British register and licence under the name of the Rebiera, went out of harbour. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes (1850) 1/1 The Britannia steam-packet, twelve hundred tons burthen per register. 1846 A. Young Naut. Dict. 195 Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping, which is published yearly, is an alphabetical list of vessels ranked in different classes according to their qualifications. |
d. of those entitled to vote in Parliamentary or municipal elections.
| 1832 Act 2 Will. IV, c. 45 §37 Whereas it is expedient to form a Register of all Persons entitled to vote [etc.]. 1843 Ld. Brougham Pol. Phil. iii. ix. 69 The necessity for a register, assumes that the franchise is confined to particular classes. 1870 Act 33 & 34 Vict. c. 92 marg., Preparation of municipal registers in burghs which do not return members to Parliament. |
5. a. An entry in a register (
esp. in sense 4 a).
| 1535 Coverdale Ezra ii. 62 These soughte the register of their byrth, and founde none. 1726 Arbuthnot It cannot rain but it pours, There being no Register of his Christening, his Age is only to be guessed at by his Stature and Countenance. 1769 Junius Lett. xii. (1788) 76 You have better proofs of your descent..than the register of a marriage. 1825 Act 6 Geo. IV, c. 110 §11 marg., Book of Registers to be kept. a 1832 Mackintosh Revolution of 1688, Wks. 1846 II. 20 Three persons were executed illegally at Taunton for rebellion, the nature and reason of their death being openly avowed in the register of their interment. |
b. A quantity recorded or registered.
| 1904 T. Holdich India xii. 351 At this point the rainfall is extraordinary, 50 or 60 feet being a not unusual register at Cherra Punji on the edge of the plateau. |
6. Registration, registry.
| 1653 Acts & Ordin. Parl. c. 6 (Scobell) 227 And the person so elected..shall continue three years in the said place of Register. 1677 A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. Ep. Rdr., The Free Lands of England being put under a Voluntary Register by Act of Parliament. 1860 Merc. Marine Mag. VII. 245 Her port of register is Liverpool. 1886 Ruskin Præterita I. iv. 129 Elaborate pencil and pen outlines, of which perhaps half-a-dozen are worth register and preservation. |
II. 7. † a. A bookmark. [So
med.L.
registrum.]
| 1530 Palsgr. 261/2 Regyster of a boke, signet. |
b. An index; a table of contents.
rare.
| 1585 Higins tr. Junius' Nomencl. 8 Syllabus, index libri,..the index, table, or register of a booke. 1890 Durham Diocesan Gaz. IV. 59 Register. 1. Letter from the Bishop..page 33 [etc.]. |
c. The series of signatures in a printed book; the list of these at the end of early printed books.
| 1885 Brit. Mus. Catal., Caxton Game and Playe of the chesse..(2nd ed.) Without titlepage or pagination; the register commences on the eighth leaf bj, and extends to I vi. |
8. a. A slider in an organ; hence, a set of pipes controlled by a slider, a stop; also, a stop-knob.
| 1585 Higins tr. Junius' Nomencl. 354/2 Pleuritides regulæ,..the side rules which are put in and pulled out, either to stop or to open the holes: the registers. 1659 J. Leak Waterwks. 30 The three Registers marked GHI, are different the one from the other. And..it is good that there be a Wall of a foot thick between the Registers and the said motion. 1766 Hawkins Hist. Mus. IV. i. x. 148 By means of the Registers that command the several orders of pipes, the wind is either admitted into or excluded from them severally. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XIII. 487/2 To fit these channels, there are the same number of wooden sliders or registers running the whole length. 1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib. II. xvi. 104/2 The whole of the accessory movements are labelled similar to the registers. Ibid., The total number of pipes is 2475, and of registers 45. |
| transf. 1727 Pope, etc. Art of Sinking xiii, Every Composer will soon be taught the use of this Cabinet, and how to manage all the Registers of it, which will be drawn out much in the manner of those in an Organ. |
b. The compass of a voice or instrument; the particular range of tones which can be produced by certain voices.
Freq. used with distinguishing terms as
upper,
middle, and
lower register;
head,
chest, and
throat register, etc.
| 1811 Busby Dict. Mus. (ed. 3), Register, a term applied to the compass, or graduated notes, of a voice. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVI. 418/2 The compass of soprano and some other voices are divided into registers, of which there are two, viz. the natural and the falsetto. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. x, The sounds too were very pleasant to hear.., musical laughs in all the registers. |
c. Art. One of a number of bands or sections into which a design is divided.
| 1937 Discovery Sept. 287/1 As a rule these plant designs [on Jhukar pottery] were painted in black, or a deep purple, the red being used for the broad bands separating the registers. 1966 Roniger & Dunn tr. Lazarev's Old Russ. Murals & Mosaics i. 39 In the middle register of the apse is the great monumental composition of the Eucharist. 1977 Times Lit. Suppl. 4 Feb. 137/3 The outside [of a conical drinking-horn] is decorated in paint or in enamel. There are two upper registers with scenes of animals and hunters. 1980 Catal. Fine Chinese Ceramics (Sotheby, Hong Kong) 222 Two groups of nine bosses arranged in three registers within rectangular enclosures, the registers alternating with bands of repeated curlicues. |
d. Linguistics. A variety of a language or a level of usage,
spec. one regarded in terms of degree of formality and choice of vocabulary, pronunciation, and (when written) punctuation, and related to or determined by the social role of the user and appropriate to a particular need or context.
| 1956 T. B. W. Reid in Archivum Linguisticum VIII. 32 He will on different occasions speak (or write) differently according to what may roughly be described as different social situations: he will use a number of distinct ‘registers’. 1962 Canadian Jrnl. Linguistics VII. 69 Interference may also vary according to the social role of the speaker in any given case. This is what the Edinburgh School has called register. 1966 G. N. Leech Eng. in Advertising vii. 68 Varieties of English distinguished by use in relation to social context are called registers. 1971 P. Young in J. Spencer Eng. Lang. W. Afr. 173 A novel, then, can be seen as an amalgam of registers within a wider register of literary endeavour. 1972 N. & Q. Dec. 446/2 Chaucer must therefore have used what was, for the London of his time, a more formal, possibly more archaic, register. 1977 P. Strevens New Orientations Teaching of Eng. x. 119 They are aware..of the idea of ‘varieties’ of English, and they probably know the term ‘register’—a variety related to a particular use of the language, a particular subject or occupation. |
e. Phonetics. A type of phonation, essentially controlled by the larynx, but distinct from tone, employed contrastively in some languages (
e.g. Cambodian).
| 1964 J. C. Catford in D. Abercrombie et al. Daniel Jones 34 ‘Register’ differences..are associated with tone⁓differences in several S.E. Asian languages. 1967 D. Abercrombie Elem. Gen. Phonetics 101 In Cambodian, for example, every syllable is spoken with one of two registers, which are mainly distinguished from each other by the position of the larynx in the throat. The same is true of Gujerati spoken in Surat, the difference here being between ‘tight’ and ‘breathy’ phonation. |
9. a. A contrivance, usually consisting of a metal plate or plates by which an opening may be wholly or partially closed, used for regulating the passage of air, heat, or smoke.
In ordinary use now chiefly applied to the adjustable plate which regulates the draught of a common fire-grate, or (
orig. U.S.) to the perforated or open-work plate by which warm air is admitted to an apartment.
| 1610 B. Jonson Alch. ii. iii, Looke well to the register, And let your heat, still, lessen by degrees. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 231 Which Hole is to be left open, or govern'd with its Register, to attemper the Air..entering by the Furnace-pipes. 1758 Reid tr. Macquer's Chym. I. 264 Make a small passage through the dome, by opening some of its registers, that the flame may just begin to draw. 1801 Trans. Soc. Arts XIX. 326 A double register;—first to close the back flue. 1860 Emerson Cond. Life, Culture Wks. (Bohn) II. 373 People..who coddle themselves, who toast their feet on the register. 1920 E. Frost Let. Mar. in Lett. R. & E. Frost (1972) 86, I am writing to you with a pencil generally these days, because I can sit and warm my feet over the register at the same time if I use a pencil. 1950 R. Moore Candlemas Bay ii. 86 Two rooms were warmed by hot-air registers through the kitchen ceiling. 1957 V. Nabokov Pnin vi. 145 A cranky⁓looking oil furnace in the basement did its best to send up its weak warm breath through registers in the floors. 1967 Gloss. Terms Gas Industry (B.S.I.) 91 Register, a fitment equipped with a damper or movable louvres which permit adjustment or closure. 1970 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 25 Sept. 14 (Advt.), Built-in ducts waft warm air to each room through small, skirting-level registers. |
† b. A regulator in a steam engine.
Obs.—0| 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVI. 54/2 There are also registers in the steam engine. |
c. Rope-making. A disc containing concentric circles of holes through which the component yarns of a strand pass, the rotation of the disc serving to twist them together. Also
register plate.
| 1793 J. Huddart Brit. Patent 1952 5 The register is calculated to form the strand into shells of yarns, and there⁓fore they must be made of different sizes. 1846 G. Dodd Brit. Manuf. VI. 199 The system for attaining any required intensity of twist is called the ‘register’. 1855 W. Cotton Brief Memoir Capt. Joseph Huddart 20 His great principle (concentric circles) was accomplished by what he called a register plate. 1950 A. E. Haarer Ropes & Rope-Making vii. 43 This..is what we call a register plate. Behind it you can see the yarns passing together into a short tube. 1957 D. Himmelfarb Technol. of Cordage Fibres & Rope v. 127 Register plates are generally heavy castings of curved cross section, with holes approximately ½-inch to 1-inch in diameter. |
10. a. A registering device; a mechanical contrivance or apparatus by which data of some kind are automatically recorded; an indicator.
| [1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 228 He contrived a Thermometer to be its own Register.] 1830 Daniell in Phil. Trans. CXX. 262 The pyrometer..consists of two distinct parts, which I shall designate as the Register and the Scale. 1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib. II. xv. 80 Clock with perpetual register of day, week, and month. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1912/1 Among the applications of gearing..applicable to registers, may be cited epicyclic and differential gears. |
b. = cash register s.v. cash n.1 3 a. Chiefly
U.S.| 1895 in Funk's Stand. Dict. 1911 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 29 Apr. 13/4 Two robbers..took $160, all the money in the register, and made good their escape. 1976 ‘E. McBain’ Guns vii. 148 Colley wishes he could see into the open drawer of the register. 1977 Transatlantic Rev. lx. 40 He..then counted the cash in the register. |
c. In mechanical calculators, a device in which numbers representing data or the results of arithmetical operations are stored or displayed; in an electronic computer or calculator, a location in store having a small capacity but negligible access time and used for a specific purpose (hence with qualifying
ns., as
address register,
control register,
storage register).
| 1928 Monthly Not. R. Astron. Soc. LXXXVIII. 451 Their principal deficiencies were the absence of tens transmission in the multiplier register,..and the excessive labour of zeroising or clearing the registers. 1946 Math. Tables & Other Aids to Computation II. 151 The Brunsviga Dupla..had two product registers..and had red and white figures as in the multiplier register. 1947 Proc. I.R.E. Aug. 759/1 The counter advances one stage on receiving a pulse, and hence is an adder as well as a register. 1956 [see address n. 7 c]. 1959 Commun. Assoc. Computing Machinery Oct. 3/2 Besides the internal memory, the arithmetic unit has four fast access cells. In these cells, the words are stored in dynamic form, in registers. 1964 F. L. Westwater Electronic Computers i. 13 This number, when placed in a special register called the control register, will cause the machine to obey the instruction. 1973 Sci. Amer. Aug. 102/2 (Advt.), In addition to its computer-like operational stack, the HP-35 has a constant storage register which lets you store any number and recall it as often as you want for repeat operations, with⁓out ever having to re-enter it. 1977 Ibid. Sept. 86/3 In microprocessors registers are employed for the temporary storage of data, of partial results, of instructions and of the addresses where other data or instructions are to be found. |
11. † a. A part of a type-mould (see
quot. 1727–38).
| 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xv. ¶7 The Register..is made of an Iron Plate about a Brevier thick. 1727–38 Chambers Cycl., Register, among letter-founders, is one of the inner parts of the mould wherein the printing types are cast... It's use is to direct the joining of them justly together. |
b. Printing. Precise adjustment of the type or printing;
esp. exact correspondence of the printed matter on the two sides of a leaf. More widely, exact coincidence of position of superimposed images,
esp. in colour printing; so
in register,
out of register. Also
transf.| 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc. Printing xxiv. ¶7 Making Register is to Quoin up a Form [etc.]. Ibid., Then he observes how the Register of the Head and Foot agrees. 1683–4 Ibid. (1962) 348 Out of register, bad register. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v., In the Art of Printing, Register is a Rule for the equal Distribution of the Lines and Pages. 1771 P. Luckombe Hist. & Art of Printing 500 Out of register, when pages are not worked even on each other. 1816 Singer Hist. Cards 159 The right hand margin is not in register, the lines being of unequal length. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 305 In order to..be printed on both sides, without destroying the register (or coincidence of the pages on the opposite sides of the sheet). 1890 J. W. Zaehnsdorf Bookbinding i. i. 3 The binder is perfectly justified in rejecting any sheets..not in register. 1907 [see duotone]. 1915 [see print v. 15 a]. 1947 Electronics Jan. 75/2 Color fringing..is also not present in the simultaneous system [of colour television], but a similar effect due to lack of register among the three simultaneous images may be present. 1950 Proc. R. Soc. A. CCI. 189 It [sc. a diffraction grating] is then cut in half, perpendicular to the rulings, and the two halves are put together face to face in register. 1966 H. Williamson Methods Bk. Design (ed. 2) xxii. 366 Colour printing usually costs more per colour than does black printing because of the laborious work of getting and maintaining register. 1967 V. Strauss Printing Industry xi. 735/2 Printers distinguish several kinds of register, depending on the intricacy of a job. No-register means that the several color areas are completely independent of each other, loose register that minor variations in their relations are inconsequential; tight, close, or hairline register indicates that these relations must be quite exact. 1975 J. B. Harley O.S. Maps ix. 138 Road casings were omitted..to assist with colour register when printing. 1975 Nature 25 Sept. 331/2 It is a rod-shaped, coiled-coil molecule, about 410 Å long, composed of two parallel α-helical chains which are in register. 1978 Amat. Photogr. 11 Jan. 69/2 A bas relief is made by printing through a negative and a positive, sandwiched together slightly out of register. |
c. Photogr. In a camera, proper correspondence between the focussing screen and the sensitive plate or film.
| 1890–1 Woodbury Encycl. Photogr. 607. |
12. attrib. and
Comb., as (sense 1)
register clerk; (sense 4)
register act,
register box,
register certificate,
register keeper,
register ticket,
register vessel; (sense 8)
register valve; (sense 9)
register furnace,
register grate,
register plate,
register stove; (sense 10)
register frame,
register head,
register pyrometer,
register thermometer; (sense 11 b)
register point,
register sheet;
register board, a flat surface with pegs or guides such that sheets of paper or film placed on it may be brought into the same relative position;
register mark Printing (see
quots.). See also
register book,
house,
office,
ship.
| 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) IV. 538 To remedy this inconvenience..several acts of parliament have been made, called the *Register Acts. 1840 Shee Abbott's Merchant Ships (ed. 6) 58 The old Register Acts contained no provision for registering ships in the territories under the government of the East India Company. |
| 1967 Karch & Buber Offset Processes viii. 331 The *register board..performs a very important part in obtaining accurate registration by providing a mechanism to jog each sheet into exactly the same position for entry into the head of the press. 1977 J. Hedgecoe Photographer's Handbk. 245 (caption) Take a negative 21/4 ins sq..and attach it to a strip of film which has been punched to fit the register board. |
| 1836 Act 6 & 7 Will. IV, c. 86 §14 The Register Books..shall be always kept in the *Register Box, and the Register Box shall always be left locked. |
| 1696 Pub. Gen. Acts (1697) 489 Divers evil disposed Persons so Registred..have fraudulently lent their *Register Certificates to divers Mariners..who were not Registred. |
| 1887 C. D. Warner Their Pilgrimage (1888) iii. 63 The *register clerk stood fingering the leaves of the register with a gracious air. |
| 1885 C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts Ser. iv. 213/1 The *register-frame is placed on the bed, and black-leaded, the forme is placed inside. |
| 1641 French Distill. i. (1651) 3 Some Furnaces have three partitions, as the Furnace for Reverberation, and the *Register Furnace. |
| 1833 Loudon Encycl. Archit. §1458 Among the fixtures of the bar may be included a folding *register grate. |
| 1800 Mudge in Phil. Trans. XC. 558 The disturbances to which the *register-heads were liable, did not discover themselves till a mile of the base had been measured. |
| 1687 in Dallas Stiles (1697) 109 Compter, and *Register-keeper of all Wares and Merchandice imported in to the said Kingdom. 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic i. ii. (1840) 52 We must have been deluded..by all the writers and register-keepers that ever have been, are, or are in being. |
| 1927 H. Hubbard Colour Block Print Making 208 *Register marks, in colour printing, marks for controlling the position of the paper in printing to ensure register. 1937 Discovery Oct. 300/2 Register marks are drawn on the stones just off the edge of the design. These the printer uses for placing the paper in exactly the right place on the stones used in subsequent printings. 1971 D. Potter Brit. Eliz. Stamps xv. 174 Autotron marks, long bars, provide the electronic check for colour registration. Register marks..serve a similar purpose. |
| 1715 Desaguliers Fires Impr. 52 A *Register Plate of Iron towards the top of the Funnel. Ibid. 53 These Register Plates will serve to keep in the warm Air. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 280 In building chimneys..we can readily reduce it to any desired size, by means of a sliding register plate near its bottom. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1905/2 These are the equivalents of the *register-points of the chromo-lithographic process or the typographic printing in colors. |
| 1830 Daniell in Phil. Trans. CXX. 257 A new *Register-Pyrometer, for measuring the Expansion of Solids. |
| 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xxiv. ¶7 He lays another Sheet even upon the Tympan-sheet, for a *Register Sheet. |
| 1795 Specif. Crook & German's Patent No. 2032. 8 *Register stoves and every other project commonly supposed to be useful by those who profess to cure smoking chimnies. 1838 Dickens O. Twist iii, A nice small pattern, just the thing for register stoves. |
| 1820 Q. Jrnl. Sci. XIV. 316 The maximum and minimum of temperature in the course of the twenty-four hours, as marked by a *register thermometer. |
| 1844 Act 7 & 8 Vict. c. 112 §20 Every Person..intending to serve on board any Ship..is hereby required to provide himself with a *Register Ticket. |
| 1880 E. J. Hopkins in Grove Dict. Music II. 583/2 A metal pin..rested on the front end of the ‘*register-valve’ as it was called. |
| 1727–38 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Register ships, In the years 1702, 1703, &c. these *register vessels..sold their commodities for above three hundred per cent. profit. |
▪ II. register, n.2 Now
rare.
(
ˈrɛdʒɪstə(r))
[Prob. for registrer, q.v.] a. The keeper of a register; a
registrar. (In common use
c 1580–1800.)
| 1531–2 Act 23 Hen. VIII, c. 19 All judges, aduocates, registers and scribes, proctours.. and apparitours and all other. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 175 Thomas Laurence the Register of Canterbury was attainted of misprision of the same treason. 1651 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. ii. iv. (1739) 23 At the first, he was no better than a Register, or the King's Remembrancer, or Secretary. a 1704 T. Brown Two Oxford Scholars Wks. 1730 I. 4 The Bishops Secretary or Register will present me with some Parchments and wax. 1788 Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 500 To discharge the functions of notaries and registers of the consulate. 1816 Scott in Raine Mem. Surtees (1852) 166 My friend Thomas Thomson, the Deputy Register of Scotland. 1837 Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 93 There will also be in time a Registrar, or, as they spell it here, ‘Register’, but none is appointed yet. [1873 R. Phillimore Eccles. Law II. iv. v. 1330 Schoolmasters are within the canons of 1603 as well as registers.] 1948 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 7 Apr. 13/7 He is the Register of Wills. That's what the state constitution calls him. 1972 Publishers' Weekly 21 Aug. 58/1 Now Acting Register of Copyrights on leave to UNESCO, Miss Ringer has been opposing appointment of George D. Cary as Register. |
| attrib. and Comb. 1603 Humble Petit. Ministers Ch. Eng. §4 That none having jurisdiction or Register places, put out the same to farme. 1650 Pub. Gen. Acts 1681 Trustees, Treasurers, Register, Register-Accomptant [etc.]. |
† b. Sc. Lord Register = Lord Clerk Register (see
n.1 3 b).
Obs.| 1686 Dallas Stiles (1697) 111 His Majesties right trusty and well beloved Cousin and Counsellor G. V. of T. Lord Register. 1708 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. ii. (1710) 407 The Four Lesser Officers of State [before the Union] were The Lord Register, The Lord Advocate [etc.]. 1794 Inv. R. Wardrobes (1815) App. ii. 355 One of the Lord Register's Deputies for Keeping the Records. |
▪ III. register, v. (
ˈrɛdʒɪstə(r))
Also 5–6
regystre, 5–7
-gestre, (6
-gester).
[ad. F. registrer (13th c.), or med.L. registrāre, f. registrum register n.1] 1. a. trans. To set down (facts, names, etc.) formally in writing; to enter or record in a precise manner.
| 1390 Gower Conf. I. 261 Of whom the wrytinge is yit now Registered, as a man mai hiere. 1433 Lydg. S. Edmund iii. 604 As it is remembryd in historie And registred be old antiquyte. 1494 Fabyan Chron. 5 Of bothe landes the Cronycles entyere, With other matyers whiche Regystred be. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 433 Rychard Whittyngton..hath right well deserued to be regestred in the boke of fame. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 90 Those that had bin sicke, vpon recouery there registered their cures, and the experiments wherby they were effected. 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 335 Such follow him, as shall be registerd Part good, part bad, of bad the longer scrowle. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 17 ¶3 Some register the changes of the wind. 1784 Cowper Task v. 530 The fatal hour Was registered in heaven ere time began. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 36 Observations on the hygrometer have not been..so diligently registered..as appears desirable. 1872 Liddon Elem. Relig. i. 21 To know all that can be known about his wishes and character, and to register this knowledge in exact terms. |
| transf. or fig. c 1530 Crt. of Love lxvii, Register this in thine remembraunce. 1590 Greene Orl. Fur. Wks. (Rtldg.) 91/1 With my trusty sword..I'll register upon his helm what I dare do. a 1806 H. K. White Lett. Poet. Wks. (1837) 281 Many a flower, which in the passing time My heart hath register'd. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 211 Such appears to have been the succession of events registered by these ruins. 1891 ‘L. Malet’ Wages of Sin I. iii. 53 He was always thinking, doing, feeling, experiencing something... Always registering impressions, making observations. 1946 D. C. Peattie Road of Naturalist iv. 49 All I could do was..register on the one hand my sympathy with Abie and, on the other, the isolation of my own interests. 1955 W. Heisenberg in W. Pauli Niels Bohr 22 The observer has..only the function of registering decisions. 1972 Daily Tel. 31 Jan. 7 Those responsible for the television serialisation of Heinrich Mann's Man of Straw..worked hard to register the idea that the novel..prophesied the rise of the Nazis. |
† b. To set (one) down
for, or as, something.
| 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxvi. §5 Him we may register for a man fortunate. 1604 T. Wright Passions iii. i. 81 He deserueth to be registred for a foole. 1611 Bible 1 Macc. viii. 20 That we might be registred, your confederats and friends. |
† c. Const. with
inf. To record.
Obs. rare.
| 1614 Raleigh Hist. World ii. (1634) 444 He..was the first that is registred to haue set up Irreligion by force. 1631 Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 806 In the Manuscript..these Carmelites following are registered to haue beene buried in this Monastery. |
† d. To set
down in a record or register.
Obs.—1| 1683 Wood Life 26 Oct. (O.H.S.) III. 76 They framed themselves into a solemn meeting, had discourses, and the discourses were registered down by Dr. Plot. |
2. spec. a. To make formal entry of (a document, fact, name, etc.) in a particular register; also, to get (a document, etc.) entered in the register by the person entitled to do so.
| 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 43 He that registerith it to haue a competent reward for his labor, and that this forseyd wryting be registerid also. 1530 Palsgr. 683/1 My fathers wyll is regystred in the bysshops courte. 1547 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 79 Ordanis the Clerk of Register to extend the samyn act..and to register the samin in the bukis of Counsale. 1617 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1816) IV. 546/2 So proportionallie for everie page..for registring of everie ane of þe saidis evidentis. 1677 A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 12, I can both in England and Wales Register my Wedding, my Burial, and my Christening,..and that which is Register'd there, is good by our Law. 1794 in Bloomfield Amer. Law Rep. 9 The Term..fixed in the said Act for registering Slaves. 1825 Act 6 Geo. IV, c. 110 §2 The said Ship or Vessel..has been duly registered at the Port. 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-bks. (1872) I. 3 The great bulk of our luggage had been registered through to Paris. 1864 Blackmore Clara Vaughan (1872) 119 My last letter..was registered for security. |
| absol. 1787 Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 231 The edict for the stamp tax has been the subject of reiterated orders and refusals to register. 1930 N. R. Stephenson Nelson W. Aldrich iii. 48 The Senate passed the bill, Aldrich and Platt registering against it. |
b. refl. (also with
as.)
| 1529 Rastell Pastyme (1811) 282 [She] there regystarde herselfe as a sentwary woman. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 706 [She] departed to a Seminarie there by called Beaulieus..and registred her selfe and hers, as persons there priuileged. 1695 Act 7 & 8 Will. III (1696) 478 A Natural born Subject of this Realm..Who shall be willing to Enter and Register himself for the Service of His Majesty. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt Introd., They..could have registered themselves in the census..as members of the Church of England. |
c. trans. and (now chiefly)
intr. (for
refl.) To enter the name of (a guest or visitor) in the register of a hotel or guest-house; to enter one's name in such a register.
orig. U.S.| 1848 Lit. Amer. 14 Oct. 237/1 Sixty miles down the Monongahela brought us to Pittsburgh, and about half past 7 p.m., I was registered at the ‘Monongahela House’. 1850 Mayne Reid Rifle Rangers I. v. 52 Take your supper, engage a snug room, and wait for me. Don't register till I come—I'll attend to that. 1891 ‘Mark Twain’ in Harper's New Monthly Mag. Dec. 96/2, I arrived in Washington, registered at the Arlington Hotel, and went to my room. 1905 A. Bennett Tales of Five Towns ii. 264 ‘You haven't registered,’ Nina called to him... He advanced to sign. 1922 H. Titus Timber xv. 136 She..stopped her car at the Commercial Hotel where she registered and was given a room. 1936 G. B. Shaw Millionairess iv. 187 You have allowed my husband to bring a woman to my hotel and register her in my name. 1967 Beavis & Medlik Man. Hotel Reception ii. 12 The receptionist should hand the pen to the guest when asking him to register. 1977 Rolling Stone 30 June 81/1 We then registered at the Airport Inn. |
d. intr. (for
refl.) To enter oneself or have one's name recorded in a list of people (
freq. as a legal requirement), as being of a specified category or having a particular eligibility or entitlement.
| 1940 Economist 26 Oct. 521/2 Special delivery certificates have been issued for householders who must register with a single coal merchant. 1941 Mrs. Belloc Lowndes Diary 7 Nov. (1971) 225, I registered for my rations, sugar, bacon, butter, etc. at Fortnum's, where quality is excellent. 1952 B. Pym Excellent Women xxvi. 243, I told them of a laundry, a grocer and a butcher where they might register. 1965 Listener 10 June 875/3 To intimidate Negroes who might be tempted to register as voters. 1973 ‘B. Mather’ Snowline vii. 85, I tried to get him to register..as an addict. You get a scrip to buy the damned stuff on prescription. 1975 S. Briggs Keep smiling Through 149/2 You could even..choose where to shop without being tied to the grocer where you were registered for basic rations. 1976 Southern Even. Echo (Southampton) 13 Nov. 8/4 The next day he registered as unemployed. 1977 Time 17 Jan. 24/2 This presumably would include all those civilians who fled the country to avoid the draft, simply failed to register or refused to submit to induction. |
3. a. Of instruments: to record by some automatic device; to indicate. (
Cf. register n.1 10.)
| 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVIII. 498/2 He proposes to adapt clock-work to this thermometer, in such a way as to register..the degrees of heat and cold. 1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib. II. xv. 65 Improved Watchman's Clock..for indicating punctuality and registering the neglect of it. 1877 Nature 24 May 59/1 In the hottest province..the thermometer never registered above 74° before sunrise. |
| absol. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1838/2 Many of these instruments register up to 1000° Centigrade. |
b. Of a person: to indicate or express (a particular feeling or emotion),
esp. by facial expression.
| 1901 ‘L. Malet’ Hist. Sir R. Calmady vi. viii. 568 The brightness died out of Honoria's face. She registered sharp annoyance against herself. 1915 Wodehouse Something Fresh iii. 56 A stage-director of a moving-picture firm would have recognized the look; Lord Emsworth was ‘registering’ interest. 1925 A. P. Herbert Laughing Ann 32 For I don't have no adventure in the street, Men don't register emotion when we meet. 1977 Private Eye 29 Apr. 3/3 On being told, her face registered shock and horror. |
c. intr. Of a person (
orig. and
esp. a film actor): to portray a particular role with conviction. Also of the ideas or feelings concerned: to communicate themselves successfully, to be convincing. Hence
gen. of feelings, thoughts, utterances, etc.: to produce the desired effect, to make an appropriate impression on the person intended. Freq.
const. (
up)on,
with.
| 1913 Esenwein & Leeds Writing Photoplay 24 It is sometimes said that an effect, a bit of business, or an emotion which an actor is endeavoring to portray, ‘will not register’, meaning that it will not ‘get across’ or be understood by the audience in the way intended by the producer. 1915 N.Y. Times 1 Nov. 11 This new movie star ‘registers’, as the film folk have it. 1928 Sunday Dispatch 16 Dec. 14/4 It looks..as though the producers had not been willing to risk spending money on it in case Miss Eagels did not register well. 1934 H. G. Wells Exper. Autobiogr. II. ix. 704 He never did as he intended or the hint was too feeble to register upon our minds. 1939 Punch 6 Sept. 255/1, I give a cough. A significant cough... The cough registers. Deep silence ensues. 1951 N. Balchin Way through Wood iv. 60 Even that didn't register. You see I didn't know where Joe had been knocked down. 1951 M. McLuhan Mech. Bride (1967) 141/2 The slick-chick and the corporation executive, as they now register on the popular imagination, are already inside the totem machine. 1964 ‘A. Gilbert’ Knock, knock, who's There? i. 14, I couldn't help seeing the name... I looked sharply at Ted, wondering if it was going to register with him. 1966 Listener 17 Feb. 253/1 Sixteen-year-old Alexandra can only hope to register with her mother, so she finds out sadly. 1977 Daily Mirror 16 Mar. 5/3 With the five-year-old it did not register. |
d. intr. To appear or produce a response on a recording or measuring instrument.
| 1947 Math. Tables & Other Aids to Computation II. 356 When two pure imaginaries are multiplied together a minus sign will register. 1974 Nature 6 Sept. 19/1 The ion energies were too small to register. |
4. a. intr. To coincide or correspond exactly.
| 1839 Penny Cycl. XIV. 45/2 The printer superadds the impressions..taking great care that the two fit well, or ‘register’, as it is technically called. 1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 175 They are..adjusted until the impressions fit—‘register’, as it is called—as intended by the engraver. |
b. trans. To adjust with precision, so as to secure the exact correspondence of parts.
| 1839 [see registering vbl. n. b]. 1891 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. IV. 92 The cardboard form is first placed in the printing frame, then the negative,..then the sensitive paper, care being taken..to register every part as perfectly as possible. 1976 Physics Bull. May 200/1 The images of the projected mask and the structure on the silicon wafer are superimposed and alignment is accomplished by registering the two images. |
c. Mil. To adjust a gun in relation to (its target); to align (artillery) with its target.
| 1958 Observer 9 Feb. 11/4 The American Polaris..will free still further the Western nuclear deterrent from dependence on large static bases..which can be registered in advance. 1958 Listener 11 Sept. 386/3 The position had been liberally registered by Russian gunners from the city; hence the cannon balls. 1959 H. MacLennan Watch that ends Night iv. vii. 166, I had to spend ten hours in that hole with the body, for the machine guns were registered so close to the ground a rat couldn't have escaped. |
5. intr. To manipulate the registers of an organ.
| 1891 Times 22 Oct. 14/2 Admirably calculated to exhibit the player's skill in ‘registering’. |
6. trans. Rope-making. To form (a strand) by the use of a register.
Cf. register n.1 9 c. Also
absol.| 1793 J. Huddart Brit. Patent 1952 3 The spindle is turning in, registering the strand. 1800 Remarks on Patent Registered Cordage (Huddart & Co.) 3 He has invented a method of manufacturing cordage, whereby every yarn holds a situation in the strand, in which it bears its proportion of the strain of the rope. This is termed registering the strands. 1855 W. Cotton Brief Memoir Capt. Joseph Huddart 26 In order to render them impervious to water, it was necessary to register them at a higher angle. 1968 W. Tyson Rope i. iii. 10 In 1799 Huddart patented..a means of registering the strands at a short length from the tube and winding up the rope as made, thus preserving a uniformity of twist. |