enter: Meaning and Definition of

en•ter

Pronunciation: (en'tur), [key]
— v.i.
  1. to come or go in: Knock before you enter.
  2. to be admitted into a school, competition, etc.: Some contestants enter as late as a day before the race.
  3. to make a beginning (often fol. by on or upon): We have entered upon a new phase in history.
  4. to come upon the stage (used in stage directions as the 3rd person imperative sing. or pl.): Enter Othello, and Iago at a distance.
—v.t.
  1. to come or go into: He just entered the building. The thought never entered my mind.
  2. to penetrate or pierce: The bullet entered the flesh.
  3. to put in or insert.
  4. to become a member of; join: to enter a club.
  5. to cause to be admitted, as into a school, competition, etc.: to enter a horse in a race.
  6. to make a beginning of or in, or begin upon; engage or become involved in: He entered the medical profession.
  7. to share in; have an intuitive understanding of: In order to appreciate the novel, one must be able to enter the spirit of the work.
  8. to make a record of; record or register: to enter a new word in a dictionary.
    1. to make a formal record of (a fact).
    2. to occupy or to take possession of (lands); make an entrance, entry, ingress in, under claim of a right to possession.
    3. to file an application for (public lands).
  9. to put (a document, program, data, etc.) into a computer system: Enter your new document into the word-processing system.
  10. to put forward, submit, or register formally: to enter an objection to a proposed action; to enter a bid for a contract.
  11. to report (a ship, cargo, etc.) at the custom house.
  12. We will enter into the question of inherited characteristics at a future time.
    1. to participate in; engage in.
    2. to investigate; consider:We will enter into the question of inherited characteristics at a future time.
    3. to sympathize with; share in.
    4. to form a constituent part or ingredient of:There is another factor that enters into the situation.
    5. to go into a particular state:to enter into a state of suspended animation.

enter-

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. var. ofbefore a vowel: enteritis.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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