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
ANSWER An"swer, n. Etym: [OE. andsware, AS. andswaru; and against + swerian to swear. 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)
Defn: 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.