• IPA: /ˈkæ.ɹi/ or (Mary-marry-merry) IPA: /ˈkɛ.ɹi/

carry (carrys, present participle iesing; past and past participle iesed)

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 639762314 ↗, page 0147 ↗:

     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. To 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. 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 by force; to impel; to conduct; to lead or guide.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, 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 83985187 ↗:

     Passion and revenge will carry them too far.

5. (transitive) To stock or supply (something).

   The corner drugstore doesn't carry his favorite brand of aspirin.

6. (transitive) To adopt (something); take (something) over.

   I think I can carry Smith's work while she is out.

7. (transitive) To adopt or resolve upon, especially in a deliberative assembly

   The court carries that motion.

8. (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.

9. (transitive) To have or maintain (something).

   Always carry sufficient insurance to protect against a loss.

10. (intransitive) To be transmitted; to travel.

    The sound of the bells carried for miles on the wind.

11. (slang, transitive) To insult, to diss.
12. (transitive, nautical) To capture a ship by coming alongside and boarding.
13. (transitive, sports) To transport (the ball) whilst maintaining possession.
14. (transitive) To have on one's person.

    she always carries a purse;  marsupials carry their young in a pouch

15. To be pregnant (with).

    The doctor said she's carrying twins.

16. To have propulsive power; to propel.

    A gun or mortar carries well.

17. To hold the head; said of a horse.

    to carry well, i.e. to hold the head high, with arching neck

18. (hunting) To have earth or frost stick to the feet when running, as a hare.
19. To bear or uphold successfully through conflict, as a leader or principle; hence, to succeed in, as in a contest; to bring to a successful issue; to win.

    The Tories carried the election.

    • c. 1608–1609, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene iii]:

      The greater part carries it.

    • 1708, Joseph Addison, The Present State of the War, and the Necessity of an Augmentation

      the carrying of our main point

20. (obsolete) To get possession of by force; to capture.
21. To contain; to comprise; to bear the aspect of; to show or exhibit; to imply.

    • He thought it carried something of argument in it.

    • 1689 (indicated as 1690)​, [John Locke], chapter 4, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Thomas Basset, […], OCLC 153628242 ↗, book I, page 16 ↗:

      It carries too great an imputation of ignorance.

22. (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.

23. 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.

24. (intransitive) To have a weapon on one's person; to be armed.
25. (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.

• (lift and bring to somewhere else) bear, move, transport
• (stock, supply): have, keep, stock, supply
• (adopt) adopt, take on, take over
• (have, maintain): have, maintain
• (be transmitted, travel): be transmitted, travel

• (in arithmetic) borrow (the equivalent reverse procedure in the inverse operation of subtraction)

• French: porter
• German: tragen
• Italian: portare
• Portuguese: carregar, levar
• Russian: (abstract, on foot) носи́ть
• Spanish: llevar, cargar

• Russian: протя́гивать

• German: führen

• German: übernehmen

• French: retenir
• Russian: переноси́ть

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.
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.

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