consult

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English

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Etymology 1

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From Middle French consulte. In sense “council”, it represents Latin cōnsultum, Italian consulto; and it may have been often taken as a direct formation from the verb.[1][2]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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consult (countable and uncountable, plural consults)

  1. (now US, countable) A visit to consult somebody, such as a doctor; a consultation.
    Synonym: consultation
  2. (obsolete) The act of consulting or deliberating; consultation.
    • 1646, Thomas Browne, “Of the Iewes”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC, 4th book, page 201:
      For firſt upon conſult of reaſon, there will bee found no eaſie aſſurance for to faſten a materiall or temperamentall propriety upon any nation; […]
  3. (obsolete) The result of consultation; determination; decision.
    • a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The First Book of Homer’s Ilias”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 431:
      [T]he council broke; / And all their grave conſults diſſolv'd in ſmoke.
  4. (obsolete) A council; a meeting for consultation.
    • 1730, Jonathan Swift, chapter 5, in Death and Daphne:
      a consult of coquettes
  5. (obsolete) Agreement; concert.
Usage notes
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  • (visit to consult somebody): The noun consult is avoided in British English, where consultation is preferred. In American English, they are merely synonyms.

Etymology 2

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From Middle French consulter, from Latin cōnsultō (“to deliberate, consult”), frequentative of cōnsulō (“to consult, deliberate, consider, reflect upon, ask advice”), from com- (“together”) + -sulō, from Proto-Indo-European *selh₁- (“to take, grab”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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consult (third-person singular simple present consults, present participle consulting, simple past and past participle consulted)

  1. (intransitive) To seek the opinion or advice of another; to take counsel; to deliberate together; to confer; to advise.
    • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:
      Let us consult upon to-morrow's business.
    • 1661 (written), published in 1681, Thomas Hobbes, A Dialogue between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws of England
      All the laws of England have been made by the kings of England, consulting with the nobility and commons.
    • 1889 January 11 [1888 December 21], Kung Taotai, “North Honan Road.”, in M. F. A. Fraser, transl., North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette‎[1], volume XLII, number 1119, Shanghai, →OCLC, page 37, column 1:
      SIR,—I have the honour to refer to your letter requesting me to desire Mr. Y. Ching-chong to come and consult with the Municipal Council, as Mr. Wood, the Chairman of that Body had informed you at a personal interview that they fully concurred in the desirability of co-operation with Mr. Ching-chong in improvements in the Honan road draining and lighting.
  2. (intransitive) To advise or offer expertise.
  3. (intransitive) To work as a consultant or contractor rather than as a full-time employee of a firm.
  4. (transitive) To ask advice of; to seek the opinion of (a person)
    • 1899, John Cotton Dana, chapter 1, in A Library Primer:
      If you have no library commission, consult a lawyer and get from him a careful statement of what can be done under present statutory regulations.
  5. (transitive) To refer to (something) for information.
    Coordinate term: look up
    • 1904, Guy Wetmore Carryl, chapter 3, in Far from the Maddening Girls:
      Which reminds me that I have never remembered from that hour to consult the dictionary upon a selvage.
    • 1837, William Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences:
      Men forgot, or feared, to consult nature, to seek for new truths, to do what the great discoverers of other times had done; they were content to consult libraries.
  6. (transitive) To have reference to, in judging or acting; to have regard to; to consider; as, to consult one's wishes.
  7. (transitive, obsolete) To deliberate upon; to take for.
  8. (transitive, obsolete) To bring about by counsel or contrivance; to devise; to contrive.
Derived terms
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Translations
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References

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  1. ^ “consult, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  2. ^ John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “consult, n.1”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin consultum.

Noun

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consult n (plural consulturi)

  1. consultation

Declension

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singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative consult consultul consulturi consulturile
genitive-dative consult consultului consulturi consulturilor
vocative consultule consulturilor
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