counter

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊntɚ/, [ˈkʰaʊ̯ɾ̃ɚ]
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊntə/
• Rhymes: -aʊntə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: count‧er

From Anglo-Norman countour, from Old French conteor (French comptoir), from Medieval Latin computātōrium, from Latin computō.

counter (plural counters)

1. An object (now especially a small disc) used in counting or keeping count, or as a marker in games, etc.

   He rolled a six on the dice, so moved his counter forward six spaces.

2. (curling) Any stone lying closer to the center than any of the opponent's stones.
3. A table or board on which money is counted and over which business is transacted; a shop tabletop on which goods are examined, weighed or measured.

   He put his money on the counter, and the shopkeeper put it in the till.

4. One who counts, or reckons up; a reckoner.

   He's only 16 months, but is already a good counter – he can count to 100.

5. A telltale; a contrivance attached to an engine, printing press, or other machine, for the purpose of counting the revolutions or the pulsations.
6. (historical) The prison attached to a city court; a Counter.
7. (grammar) A class of word used along with numbers to count objects and events, typically mass nouns. Although rare and optional in English (e.g. "20 head of cattle"), they are numerous and required in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
8. In a kitchen, a surface, often built into the wall and above a cabinet, whereon various food preparations take place.
9. In a bathroom, a surface, often built into the wall and above a cabinet, which holds the washbasin.
10. (wrestling) A proactive defensive hold or move in reaction to a hold or move by one's opponent.

    Always know a counter to any hold you try against your opponent.

11. (typography) The enclosed or partly closed negative space of a glyph.
12. (programming) A variable, memory location, etc. whose contents are incremented to keep a count.
13. (Internet) A hit counter.

• (grammar) measure word

From Old French contre, Anglo-Norman cuntre, both from Latin contra.

counter (not comparable)

1. Contrary, in opposition; in an opposite direction.
   • Locke

     running counter to all the rules of virtue

• See also Thesaurus:contrarily

counter (plural counters)

1. (nautical) The overhanging stern of a vessel above the waterline.
2. The piece of a shoe or a boot around the heel of the foot (above the heel of the shoe/boot).
   • 1959, J. D. Salinger, Seymour: An Introduction:

     Seymour, sitting in an old corduroy armchair across the room, a cigarette going, wearing a blue shirt, gray slacks, moccasins with the counters broken down, a shaving cut on the side of his face […]

From counter-.

counter (third-person singular simple present counters, present participle countering, simple past and past participle countered)

1. To contradict, oppose.
2. (boxing) To return a blow while receiving one, as in boxing.
   • Charles Kingsley

     His left hand countered provokingly.

3. To take action in response to; to respond.
   • 2012 December 14, Simon Jenkins, “We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys”, in The Guardian Weekly‎, volume 188, number 2, page 23:

     David Cameron insists that his latest communications data bill is “vital to counter terrorism”. Yet terror is mayhem. It is no threat to freedom. That threat is from counter-terror, from ministers capitulating to securocrats.

counter (not comparable)

1. Contrary or opposing

   His carrying a knife was counter to my plan.

   Synonyms: opposite, contrasted, opposed, adverse, antagonistic

   • I. Taylor

     Innumerable facts attesting the counter principle.

counter (not comparable)

1. In opposition; in an opposite direction; contrariwise.
   • John Locke

     running counter to all the rules of virtue

2. In the wrong way; contrary to the right course.

   a hound that runs counter

   • Shakespeare

     This is counter, you false Danish dogs!

3. At or against the front or face.
   • Sandys

     which [darts] they never throw counter, but at the back of the flier

counter (plural counters)

1. (obsolete) An encounter.
   • Spenser

     with kindly counter under mimic shade

2. (nautical) The after part of a vessel's body, from the water line to the stern, below and somewhat forward of the stern proper.
3. (music) Alternative form of contra Formerly used to designate any under part which served for contrast to a principal part, but now used as equivalent to countertenor.
4. The breast, or that part of a horse between the shoulders and under the neck.
5. The back leather or heel part of a boot.
6. (typography) The area of a letter that is entirely or partially enclosed by a letter form or a symbol.

• Cureton, Cutrone, cornute, countre, recount, trounce

counter

1. Late Anglo-Norman spelling of conter

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-ts, *-tt are modified to z, t. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.