OBSERVE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Observe

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/əbzˈərv/ Listen

verb

Observe v. t. (past & past part. observed; pres. part. observing)

To take notice of by appropriate conduct; to conform one's action or practice to; to keep; to heed; to obey; to comply with; as, to observe rules or commands; to observe civility. "Ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread." "He wolde no such cursedness observe." "Must I budge? Must I observe you?" "With solemn purpose to observe Immutably his sovereign will."

To be on the watch respecting; to pay attention to; to notice with care; to see; to perceive; to notice; to discover; as, to observe an eclipse; to observe the color or fashion of a dress; to observe the movements of an army; to observe an accident.

To express as what has been noticed; to utter as a remark; to say in a casual or incidental way; to remark.

Observe v. i.

To take notice; to give attention to what one sees or hears; to attend.

To make a remark; to comment; to make an observation (3); generally with on or upon. "I have barely quoted... without observing upon it."

Synonyms: To remark. See Remark.

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Etymology of 'Observe'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Observe" Quotes from Famous Books

... on the ground for some time, to the great detriment of his Harris tweeds, but finally arose, a curious expression on his face—which, however, the detective evidently failed to observe. ...

— Tales of Chinatown • Sax Rohmer

... to the habits of thought and composition of authors one has happened to know, as if an author's friends were commonly invited to observe the growth of works he was by and by to launch from the press. It is not customary for the doors of the writer's work-shop to be thrown open, and for this reason it is all the more interesting to notice, when it is possible, how ...

— Yesterdays with Authors • James T. Fields

... Observe, discriminating reader, that there is all the difference in the world between a TRADESMAN and a MERCHANT; and, moreover, that it is not every tradesman that is ...

— Ten Thousand a-Year. Volume 1. • Samuel Warren

... unmarried. On going into church they use holy water. They hold the writings of the four Evangelists in great veneration. They fast during Lent and Advent with much solemnity, and on Easter Eve they neither eat nor drink the whole day. They have regularly sermons on the night of Holy Friday, and they observe the day of the Resurrection with great devotion. Likewise the two following days, and the ensuing Sunday, are particularly kept holy, because on that day St Thomas thrust his hand into the side of our ...

— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. II • Robert Kerr

... unknown. The most authentic account is that by Hakluyt in 1582, and though it is rather long, it is worth extracting in full. It occurs in some instructions in "Remembrances for Master S.," who was going into Turkey, giving him hints what to observe in his travels: "Saffron, the best of the universall world, groweth in this realme. . . . It is a spice that is cordiall, and may be used in meats, and that is excellent in dying of yellow silks. This commodity of Saffron groweth fifty miles from Tripoli, ...

— The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare • Henry Nicholson Ellacombe

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