respond
    v 1: show a response or a reaction to something [syn: react,
         respond]
    2: react verbally; "She didn't want to answer"; "answer the
       question"; "We answered that we would accept the invitation"
       [syn: answer, reply, respond]
    3: respond favorably or as hoped; "The cancer responded to the
       aggressive therapy"

Respond \Re*spond"\ (r?*sp?nd"), v. i. [imp. & p. p.
   Responded; p. pr. & vb. n. Responding.] [OF. respondre,
   F. r['e]pondre, fr. L. respondere, responsum; pref. re- re- +
   spondere to promise. See Sponsor.]
   1. To say somethin in return; to answer; to reply; as, to
      respond to a question or an argument.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To show some effect in return to a force; to act in
      response; to accord; to correspond; to suit.
      [1913 Webster]

            A new affliction strings a new cord in the heart,
            which responds to some new note of complaint within
            the wide scale of human woe.          --Buckminster.
      [1913 Webster]

            To every theme responds thy various lay. --Broome.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To render satisfaction; to be answerable; as, the
      defendant is held to respond in damages. [U.S.]
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: To answer; reply; rejoin. See Reply.
        [1913 Webster]

Respond \Re*spond"\, v. t.
   1. To answer; to reply.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To suit or accord with; to correspond to. [R.]
      [1913 Webster]

            For his great deeds respond his speeches great.
                                                  --Fairfax.
      [1913 Webster]

Respond \Re*spond"\, n.
   1. An answer; a response. [R.]
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Eccl.) A short anthem sung at intervals during the
      reading of a chapter.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Arch.) A half pier or pillar attached to a wall to
      support an arch. --Oxf. Gloss.
      [1913 Webster] Respondence

RESPOND, v.i.  To make answer, or disclose otherwise a consciousness
of having inspired an interest in what Herbert Spencer calls "external
coexistences," as Satan "squat like a toad" at the ear of Eve,
responded to the touch of the angel's spear.  To respond in damages is
to contribute to the maintenance of the plaintiff's attorney and,
incidentally, to the gratification of the plaintiff.