Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To render in another language.
  • intransitive verb To express in different, often simpler words.
  • intransitive verb To change from one form, function, or state to another; convert or transform.
  • intransitive verb To express in another medium.
  • intransitive verb To transfer from one place or condition to another.
  • intransitive verb To forward or retransmit (a telegraphic message).
  • intransitive verb Ecclesiastical To transfer (a bishop) to another see.
  • intransitive verb To convey to heaven without death.
  • intransitive verb Physics To subject (a body) to translation.
  • intransitive verb Biology To subject (messenger RNA) to translation.
  • intransitive verb To make a translation.
  • intransitive verb To work as a translator.
  • intransitive verb To admit of translation.
  • intransitive verb To be changed or transformed in effect. Often used with into or to.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To bear, carry, or remove from one place to another; transfer; specifically, in mech., to impart to (a particle or body) a motion in which all its parts move in the same direction.
  • To transfer from one office or charge to another. In ecclesiastical law:
  • In Scottish Presbyterian churches, to transfer from one pastoral charge to another: said of a clergyman.
  • To remove or convey to heaven without death.
  • To put into an ecstasy; ravish; put out of or beside one's self.
  • To cause to remove from one part of the body to another: as, to translate a disease.
  • To change into another form; transform.
  • To render into another language; express the sense of (something expressed in the words of one language) in the words of another language; interpret.
  • To explain by using other words; express in other terms; hence, figuratively, to present in another form.
  • To make clear or evident to the mind or to the senses without speech; convey to the mind or the senses, as by experience.
  • To manufacture from old material; especially, in cheap shoemaking, to make (shoes or boots) by using parts of old ones.
  • In telegraphy, to retransmit (a message). See translation, 7.
  • To be engaged in translating, or practise translation.
  • In telegraphy, to retransmit a message automatically over another line, or over a continuation of: the same line.
  • In mech., to move (a solid body), or to cause (it) to be moved, in such a way that all lines which join different points (of it) are always parallel to the lines which joined these points when it was at rest.

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

  • transitive verb Archaic To bear, carry, or remove, from one place to another; to transfer.
  • transitive verb To change to another condition, position, place, or office; to transfer; hence, to remove as by death.
  • transitive verb To remove to heaven without a natural death.
  • transitive verb (Eccl.) To remove, as a bishop, from one see to another.
  • transitive verb To render into another language; to express the sense of in the words of another language; to interpret; hence, to explain or recapitulate in other words.
  • transitive verb To change into another form; to transform.
  • transitive verb (Med.) To cause to remove from one part of the body to another.
  • transitive verb obsolete To cause to lose senses or recollection; to entrance.
  • intransitive verb To make a translation; to be engaged in translation.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To change text (of a book, document, Web site, movie, anime, video game etc.) from one language to another.
  • verb intransitive To have a translation into another language.
  • verb transitive To change from one form or medium to another.
  • verb intransitive To change from one form to another.
  • verb transitive, physics To subject (a body) to translation, i.e., to move a body on a linear path with no rotation.
  • verb transitive, archaic To move or carry from one place or position to another; to transfer.
  • verb transitive, Christianity To remove to heaven without a natural death.
  • verb transitive, Christianity To remove, as a bishop, from one see to another.
  • verb transitive, obsolete To cause to lose senses or recollection; to entrance.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English translaten, from Old French translater, from Latin trānslātus, past participle of trānsferre, to transfer : trāns-, trans- + lātus, brought; see telə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English translaten from Classical Latin translatus, past participle of transferre, from trans- “across” + latus, "borne", "carried", irregular perfect passive participle of verb ferre “to bear”. Displaced native Middle English awenden ("to change, translate") (from Old English āwendan), Middle English irecchen ("to explain, expound, interpret") (from Old English ġereccan), and Old English ġeþēodan ("to engage in, translate").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word translate.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Whoa! AWESOME new feature!

    April 29, 2010

  • I'm so glad you like it! Please let me know if you have any suggestions or comments about how it's implemented. The translations themselves come from the Google Language API.

    If you don't know what we're talking about, we recently added a 'translate' option to every word, but initially rolled it out to half of Wordnki's visitors (chosen randomly), so we could test it and make sure it didn't screw up anything else. It's looking pretty good though, so we'll probably be rolling it out to everyone very soon.

    If you can't wait, clear your cookies and reload. Repeat until you see a translate option to the right of the links below each word :-)

    April 29, 2010

  • "3. To transfer from one office or charge to another. In ecclesiastical law: To remove from one see to another: said of a bishop.

    4. In Scottish Presbyterian churches, to transfer from one pastoral charge to another: said of a clergyman.

    5. To remove or convey to heaven without death.

    6. To put into an ecstasy; ravish; put out of or beside one's self.

    7. To cause to remove from one part of the body to another: as, to translate a disease."

    --Century Dictionary

    March 23, 2011

  • #5 could use some clarification.

    #3: I imagine that the bishop in question would be constrained to move diagonally from see to shining see.

    March 23, 2011

  • #3 Oh, beautiful!

    #4 For spacious skies.

    March 23, 2011

  • Cf. traduce.

    March 24, 2011

  • acleanslate?

    March 24, 2011