What does "enter" mean?
Enter: To unite in; to join; to be admitted to; to become a member of; as, to enter an association, a college, an army.
Additional senses
- 2.To engage in; to become occupied with; as, to enter the legal profession, the book trade, etc.
- 3.To pass within the limits of; to attain; to begin; to commence upon; as, to enter one's teens, a new era, a new dispensation.
- 4.To cause to go (into), or to be received (into); to put in; to insert; to cause to be admitted; as, to enter a knife into a piece of wood, a wedge into a log; to enter a boy at college, a horse for a race, etc.
- 5.To inscribe; to enroll; to record; as, to enter a name, or a date, in a book, or a book in a catalogue; to enter the particulars of a sale in an account, a manifest of a ship or of merchandise at the customhouse.
- 6.(Law) (a) To go into or upon, as lands, and take actual possession of them. (b) To place in regular form before the court, usually in writing; to put upon record in proper from and order; as, to enter a writ, appearance, rule, or judgment. Burrill.
- 7.To make report of (a vessel or her cargo) at the customhouse; to submit a statement of (imported goods), with the original invoices, to the proper officer of the customs for estimating the duties. See Entry, 4.
- 8.To file or inscribe upon the records of the land office the required particulars concerning (a quantity of public land) in order to entitle a person to a right pf preëmption. [U.S.] Abbott.
- 9.To deposit for copyright the title or description of (a book, picture, map, etc.); as, "entered according to act of Congress."
- 10.To initiate; to introduce favorably. [Obs.] Shak.
- 11.To go or come in; -- often with in used pleonastically; also, to begin; to take the first steps. "The year entering." Evelyn. No evil thing approach nor enter in. Milton. Truth is fallen in the street, and equity can not enter. Is. lix.
- 12.For we which have believed do enter into rest. Heb. iv.
- 13.2. To get admission; to introduce one's self; to penetrate; to form or constitute a part; to become a partaker or participant; to share; to engage; -- usually with into; sometimes with on or upon; as, a ball enters into the body; water enters into a ship; he enters into the plan; to enter into a quarrel; a merchant enters into partnership with some one; to enter upon another's land; the boy enters on his tenth year; to enter upon a task; lead enters into the composition of pewter.
- 14.To penetrate mentally; to consider attentively; -- with into. He is particularly pleased with . . . Sallust for his entering into internal principles of action. Addison.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00