| receive | 1. To take, as something that is offered, given, committed, sent, paid, or the like; to accept; as, to receive money offered in payment of a debt; to receive a gift, a message, or a letter. "Receyven all in gree that God us sent." (Chaucer) 2. Hence: To gain the knowledge of; to take into the mind by assent to; to give admission to; to accept, as an opinion, notion, etc.; to embrace. "Our hearts receive your warnings." (Shak) "The idea of solidity we receives by our touch." (Locke) 3. To allow, as a custom, tradition, or the like; to give credence or acceptance to. "Many other things there be which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots." (Mark vii. 4) 4. To give admittance to; to permit to enter, as into one's house, presence, company, and the like; as, to receive a lodger, visitor, ambassador, messenger, etc. "They kindled a fire, and received us every one." (Acts xxviii. 2) 5. To admit; to take in; to hold; to contain; to have capacity fro; to be able to take in. "The brazen altar that was before the Lord was too little to receive the burnt offerings." (1 Kings viii. 64) 6. To be affected by something; to suffer; to be subjected to; as, to receive pleasure or pain; to receive a wound or a blow; to receive damage. "Against his will he can receive no harm." (Milton) 7. To take from a thief, as goods known to be stolen. 8. To bat back (the ball) when served. Receiving ship, one on board of which newly recruited sailors are received, and kept till drafted for service. Synonym: To accept, take, allow, hold, retain, admit. Receive, Accept. To receive describes simply the act of taking. To accept denotes the taking with approval, or for the purposes for which a thing is offered. Thus, we receive a letter when it comes to hand; we receive news when it reaches us; we accept a present when it is offered; we accept an invitation to dine with a friend. "Who, if we knew What we receive, would either not accept Life offered, or soon beg to lay it down." (Milton) Origin: OF. Receiver, recevoir, F. Recevoir, fr. L. Recipere; pref. Re- re- + capere to take, seize. See See Capable, Heave, and cf. Receipt, Reception, Recipe. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| receiver | 1. One who takes or receives in any manner. 2. A person appointed, ordinarily by a court, to receive, and hold in trust, money or other property which is the subject of litigation, pending the suit; a person appointed to take charge of the estate and effects of a corporation, and to do other acts necessary to winding up its affairs, in certain cases. 3. One who takes or buys stolen goods from a thief, knowing them to be stolen. 4. <chemistry> A vessel connected with an alembic, a retort, or the like, for receiving and condensing the product of distillation. A vessel for receiving and containing gases. 5. <physics> The glass vessel in which the vacuum is produced, and the objects of experiment are put, in experiments with an air pump. Cf. Bell jar, and 6. <engineering> A vessel for receiving the exhaust steam from the high-pressure cylinder before it enters the low-pressure cylinder, in a compound engine. A capacious vessel for receiving steam from a distant boiler, and supplying it dry to an engine. 7. That portion of a telephonic apparatus, or similar system, at which the message is received and made audible; opposed to transmitter. <physics> Exhausted receiver, a receiver, as that used with the air pump, from which the air has been withdrawn; a vessel the interior of which is a more or less complete vacuum. Origin: Cf. F. Receveur. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| receiver cell | <plant biology> Cells in the photosynthetic tissues of plants into which the solutes from xylem are pumped. (18 Nov 1997) |
| receiver operating characteristic | A plot of the sensitivity of a diagnostic test as a function of non-specificity (one minus the specificity). The ROC curve indicates the intrinsic properties of a test's diagnostic performance and can be used to compare the relative merits of competing procedures. (05 Mar 2000) |
| receiver operating characteristic curve | A plot of true positive versus false positive results, usually in a trial of a diagnostic test. A graphical means of assessing the ability of a screening test to discriminate between healthy and diseased persons. Synonym: ROC curve. (05 Mar 2000) |