counter

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A counting-room.
• noun A table or board on which money is counted; a table in a shop on which goods are laid for examination by purchasers.
• noun Formerly, in England, a debtors' prison: used especially as the name of two prisons for debtors in the City of London, and of one in Southwark.
• Contrary; in opposition; in an opposite direction: used chiefly with run or go: as, to run counter to the rules of virtue; he went counter to his own interest.
• In the wrong way; contrary to the right course; in the reverse direction; contrariwise.
• Directly in front; in or at the face.
• Adverse; opposite; contrary; opposing; antagonistic.
• Against; contrary or antagonistic to.
• To come against; meet; encounter.
• To come into collision; encounter.
• In boxing, to give a return blow while receiving or parrying the blow of an antagonist.
• In boxing, to meet or return by a counter-blow: as, to counter a blow.
• In shoemaking, to put a counter upon; furnish with a counter: as, to counter a shoe.
• noun A meeting; an encounter.
• noun A prefix of Latin origin, being a doublet of contra-, and appearing in words of Middle English origin, or in later words formed on the analogy of such. Considered merely as an English prefix, counter- is to be referred to counter, adverb, or counter, adjective See counter.
• noun That which is counter or antagonistic; an opposite.
• noun In music, any voice-part set in contrast to a principal melody or part; specifically, the counter-tenor; the high tenor or alto. Sometimes this part is sung an octave higher than it is written, thus becoming a high soprano.
• noun That part of a horse's breast which lies between the shoulders and under the neck.
• noun That part of a ship which lies between the water-line and the knuckle of the stern. The counter-timbers are short timbers in the stern, used to strengthen the counter.
• noun The stiff leather forming the back part of a shoe or boot surrounding the heel of the wearer. See cut under boot.
• noun In fencing, a parry in which the sword's point makes a complete curve, returning to its original position. The various counters are named with reference to the thrust to be parried, as the counter of carte, of tierce, etc.
• noun Same as counter-lode.
• noun The depressed part of the face of a coin, modal, or printing-type that gives relief and contrast to the raised part of the design.
• noun The representative of the engineer-in-chief of a canal or similar public work, having special charge of the recording of quantities of excavation, embankment, or masonry.
• noun One who counts or reckons; a computer; an auditor.
• noun An apparatus for keeping count of revolutions or other movements.
• noun A thing used in counting; that which indicates a number; that which is used to keep an account or reckoning, as in games; specifically, a piece of metal, ivory, wood, or other material, or a spurious or imitation coin, used for this purpose.
• noun A piece of money; a coin; in plural, money.
• noun In early English law, an attorney or serjeant at law retained to conduct a cause in court.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A table or board on which money is counted and over which business is transacted; a long, narrow table or bench, on which goods are laid for examination by purchasers, or on which they are weighed or measured.
• noun (Stock Exchanges), [Cant] without a prescription; needing no prescription; -- said of medicines that can be legally bought without a physician's prescription.
• noun One who counts, or reckons up; a calculator; a reckoner.
• noun A piece of metal, ivory, wood, or bone, used in reckoning, in keeping account of games, etc.
• noun obsolete Money; coin; -- used in contempt.
• noun A prison; either of two prisons formerly in London.
• noun A telltale; a contrivance attached to an engine, printing press, or other machine, for the purpose of counting the revolutions or the pulsations.
• adverb Contrary; in opposition; in an opposite direction; contrariwise; -- used chiefly with run or go.
• adverb In the wrong way; contrary to the right course.
• adverb rare At or against the front or face.
• noun obsolete An encounter.
• noun (Naut.) The after part of a vessel's body, from the water line to the stern, -- below and somewhat forward of the stern proper.
• noun (Mus.) Same as Contra. Formerly used to designate any under part which served for contrast to a principal part, but now used as equivalent to counter tenor.
• noun (Far.) The breast, or that part of a horse between the shoulders and under the neck.
• noun The back leather or heel part of a boot.
• intransitive verb (Boxing) To return a blow while receiving one, as in boxing.
• adjective Contrary; opposite; contrasted; opposed; adverse; antagonistic.
• adjective (Fort.) a trench or work pushed forward from defensive works to meet the approaches of besiegers. See Approach.
• adjective (Law) in old practice, a bond to secure one who has given bond for another.
• adjective See Counter brace, in Vocabulary.