verb

Alternative forms

• vb., v. (abbreviation)

Etymology

From Middle English verbe, directly from Latin verbum (“word, verb”), reinforced by Old French verbe, from Proto-Indo-European *werdʰo-. Doublet of verve and word.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /vɜːb/
• (US) IPA^(key): /vɝb/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /vəɹb/, [vɚ(ɹ)b]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)b

Noun

verb (plural verbs)

2. (grammar) A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being.

   The word “speak” is an English verb.

   • 1530 July 18, Iohan Palſgrave, “The Introduction”, in Leſclarciſſement de la langue francoyſe […] ‎, London: Richard Pynſon, Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, page 32; reprinted as Lesclarcissement de la langue françoyse, Genève: Slatkine Reprints, 1972:

     In ſo moche that if any verbe be of the thyꝛde coniugation / I ſet out all his rotes and tenſes […]

3. (obsolete) Any word; a vocable.
   • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:

     a Verb of the Singular

4. (figurative) An action as opposed to a trait or thing.

   Kindness is a verb, not an adjective. You're only kind if you do kind things.

5. (programming) A named command that performs a specific operation on an object.
   • 1995, Adam Denning, OLE Controls Inside Out, page 321:

     You can invoke the Properties OLE verb in many ways. The easiest way is to move the mouse over the border of the control until it becomes only a four-way pointer and then right-click.

   • 2016, Ada Gavrilovska, Attaining High Performance Communications: A Vertical Approach:

     The InfiniBand verbs, which are closely modeled in the “Gen2” interface, provide the functional specification for the operations that should be allowed on an InfiniBand compliant adapter.

Verb

verb (third-person singular simple present verbs, present participle verbing, simple past and past participle verbed)

1. (transitive, nonstandard, colloquial) To use any word that is or was not a verb (especially a noun) as if it were a verb.
   • a. 1981 Feb 22, unknown Guardian editor as quoted by William Safire, On Language, in New York Times, pSM3

     Haig, in congressional hearings before his confirmatory, paradoxed his auditioners by abnormalling his responds so that verbs were nouned, nouns verbed and adjectives adverbised. He techniqued a new way to vocabulary his thoughts so as to informationally uncertain anybody listening about what he had actually implicationed... .

   • 1993 January 25, Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes:

     I like to verb words.... I take nouns and adjectives and use them as verbs. Remember when "access" was a thing? Now it's something you DO. It got verbed. Verbing weirds language.

   • 1997, David. F. Griffiths, Desmond J. Higham, learning LAT_EX, page 8:

     Nouns should never be verbed.

   • 2005 October 5, Jeffrey Mattison, “Letters”, in The Christian Science Monitor, page 8:

     In English, verbing nouns is okay

2. (linguistics, social sciences) Used as a placeholder for any verb.
   • 1946, Rand Corporation, The Rand Paper Series:

     For example, one-part versions of the proposition "The doctor pursued the lawyer" were "The doctor verbed the object," ...

   • 1964, Journal of Mathematical Psychology:

     Each sentence had the same basic structure: The subject transitive verbed the object who intransitive verbed in the location.

   • 1998, Marilyn A. Walker, Aravind Krishna Joshi, Centering Theory in Discourse:

     The sentence frame was Dan verbed Ben approaching the store. This sentence frame was followed in all cases by He went inside.

See also

• copula
• workword

Anagrams

• brev

Etymology

From Latin verbum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛrp/

Noun

verb m (plural verboù)

1. (grammar) verb

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin verbum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈbɛrp]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈvɛrp]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈvɛɾp]

Noun

verb m (plural verbs)

1. verb

Further reading

• “verb” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Etymology

From Latin verbum.

Noun

verb n (definite singular verbet, indefinite plural verb or verber, definite plural verba or verbene)

1. (grammar) verb

References

• “verb” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Etymology

From Latin verbum.

Noun

verb n (definite singular verbet, indefinite plural verb, definite plural verba)

1. (grammar) verb

References

• “verb” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Etymology

From Latin verbum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [verb]

Noun

verb n (plural verbe)

1. verb

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

verb n

1. (grammar) verb

References

• verb in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

Anagrams

• brev

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

verb

1. verb

References

• Zajceva, N. G., Mullonen, M. I. (2007) “глагол”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary]‎, Petrozavodsk: Periodika