English
carry
see also: Carry
Etymology

From Middle English carrien, from Anglo-Norman carier (modern French charrier); from a derivative of Latin carrus, ultimately of Gaulish - origin.

Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈkæɹ.ɪ/
    • (nMmmm) IPA: /ˈkæɹ.i/
    • (Mmmm) IPA: /ˈkɛɹ.i/, /ˈkeɹ.i/
Verb

carry (carries, present participle carrying; simple past and past participle carried)

  1. (transitive) To lift (something) and take it to another place; to transport (something) by lifting.
    • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗:
      Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations. It is easily earned repetition to state that Josephine St. Auban's was a presence not to be concealed.
  2. (transitive) To notionally transfer from one place (such as a country, book, or column) to another.
    to carry the war from Greece into Asia
    to carry an account to the ledger
  3. (transitive) To convey by extension or continuance; to extend.
    The builders are going to carry the chimney through the roof.  They would have carried the road ten miles further, but ran out of materials.
  4. (transitive, mostly, archaic) To move; to convey using force
    Synonyms: impel, conduct
  5. (transitive) To lead or guide.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Genesis 31:18 ↗:
      And he carried away all his cattle […] for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.
    • 1689 December (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], Two Treatises of Government: […], London: […] Awnsham Churchill, […], →OCLC ↗:
      Passion and revenge will carry them too far.
  6. (transitive) To stock or supply (something); to have in store.
    The corner drugstore doesn't carry his favorite brand of aspirin.
  7. (transitive) To adopt (something); take (something) over.
    I think I can carry Smith's work while she is out.
  8. (transitive) To adopt or resolve on, especially in a deliberative assembly
    The court carries that motion.
  9. (transitive, arithmetic) In an addition, to transfer the quantity in excess of what is countable in the units in a column to the column immediately to the left in order to be added there.
    Five and nine are fourteen; carry the one to the tens place.
  10. (transitive) To have, hold, possess or maintain (something).
    Always carry sufficient insurance to protect against a loss.
  11. (intransitive) To be transmitted; to travel.
    The sound of the bells carried for miles on the wind.
    • 1912, Stratemeyer Syndicate, chapter 1, in Baseball Joe on the School Nine:
      It might seem easy to hit the head of a barrel at that distance, but either the lads were not expert enough or else the snowballs, being of irregular shapes and rather light, did not carry well. Whatever the cause, the fact remained that the barrel received only a few scattering shots and these on the outer edges of the head.
  12. (slang, transitive) To insult, to diss.
  13. (transitive, nautical) To capture a ship by coming alongside and boarding.
  14. (transitive, sports) To transport (the ball) whilst maintaining possession.
  15. (transitive) To have on one's person.
    she always carries a purse;  marsupials carry their young in a pouch
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter X, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:
      Men that I knew around Wapatomac didn't wear high, shiny plug hats, nor yeller spring overcoats, nor carry canes with ivory heads as big as a catboat's anchor, as you might say.
  16. To be pregnant (with).
    The doctor said she's carrying twins.
  17. To have propulsive power; to propel.
    A gun or mortar carries well.
  18. To hold the head; said of a horse.
    to carry well, i.e. to hold the head high, with arching neck
  19. (hunting) To have earth or frost stick to the feet when running, as a hare.
    • 1892, […] Field […]:
      The frost […] caused the fallows and seeds to ‘carry’ a good deal, and they could only hunt very slowly.
  20. To bear or uphold successfully through conflict, for example a leader or principle
    • 1708, Joseph Addison, The Present State of the War, and the Necessity of an Augmentation:
      the carrying of our main point
  21. To succeed in (e.g. a contest); to succeed in; to win.
    The Tories carried the election.
    • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene iii]:
      The greater part carries it.
  22. (obsolete) To get possession of by force; to capture.
  23. To contain; to comprise; have a particular aspect; to show or exhibit
    • 2014, Gregg Olsen, Rebecca Morris, If I Can't Have You: Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance, and the Murder of her Children:
      Things of little value carry great importance.
    • 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 4, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC ↗, book I, page 16 ↗:
      It carries too great an imputation of ignorance.
  24. (reflexive) To bear (oneself); to behave or conduct.
    • 1702-1704, Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, The History of the Rebellion
      He carried himself so insolently in the house, and out of the house, to all persons, that he became odious.
  25. To bear the charges or burden of holding or having, as stocks, merchandise, etc., from one time to another.
    A merchant is carrying a large stock;  a farm carries a mortgage;  a broker carries stock for a customer;  to carry a life insurance.
  26. (intransitive) To have a weapon on one's person; to be armed.
  27. (gaming) To be disproportionately responsible for a team's success.
    He absolutely carried the game, to the point of killing the entire enemy team by himself.
  28. (Southern US) To physically transport (in the general sense, not necessarily by lifting)
    Will you carry me to town?
  29. (North America) To bear a firearm, such as a gun.
    A holster can help you carry in confidence, knowing that your weapon is secure and close at hand.
Synonyms Antonyms
  • (antonym(s) of “in arithmetic”): borrow (the equivalent reverse procedure in the inverse operation of subtraction)
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Noun

carry (plural carries)

  1. A manner of transporting or lifting something; the grip or position in which something is carried.
    Adjust your carry from time to time so that you don't tire too quickly.
  2. A tract of land over which boats or goods are carried between two bodies of navigable water; a portage.
    • 1862, The Atlantic Monthly, volume 10, page 533:
      Undrowned, unducked, as safe from the perils of the broad lake as we had come out of the defiles of the rapids, we landed at the carry below the dam at the lake's outlet.
  3. (computing) The bit or digit that is carried in an addition operation.
    • 1988, Michael A. Miller, The 68000 Microprocessor, page 45:
      On paper, simply add the carry to the next addition; that is, $B2 + $9C + 1. That's fine for paper, but how is it done by computer?
  4. (finance) The benefit or cost of owning an asset over time.
    The carry on this trade is 25 basis points per annum.
  5. (golf) The distance travelled by the ball when struck, until it hits the ground.
  6. (finance) Carried interest.
  7. (UK, dialect) The sky; cloud-drift.
Carry
Proper noun
  1. Surname.


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