Count (kount), v. t. [imp.
& p. p. Counted; p. pr. & vb.
n. Counting.] [OF. conter, and later
(etymological spelling) compter, in modern French thus
distinguished; conter to relate (cf. Recount,
Account), compter to count; fr. L.
computuare to reckon, compute; com- + putare
to reckon, settle, order, prune, orig., to clean. See
Pure, and cf. Compute.] 1. To
tell or name one by one, or by groups, for the purpose of
ascertaining the whole number of units in a collection; to
number; to enumerate; to compute; to reckon.
Who can count the dust of Jacob?
Num. xxiii. 10.
In a journey of forty miles, Avaux counted
only three miserable cabins.
Macaulay.
2. To place to an account; to ascribe or
impute; to consider or esteem as belonging.
Abracham believed God, and it was counted
unto him for righteousness.
Rom. iv. 3.
3. To esteem; to account; to reckon; to
think, judge, or consider.
I count myself in nothing else so happy
As in a soul remembering my good friends.
Shak.
To count out. (a) To
exclude (one) from consideration; to be assured that (one) will
not participate or cannot be depended upon.
(b) (House of Commons) To declare
adjourned, as a sitting of the House, when it is ascertained that
a quorum is not present. (c) To prevent
the accession of (a person) to office, by a fraudulent return or
count of the votes cast; -- said of a candidate really
elected. [Colloq.]
Syn. -- To calculate; number; reckon; compute;
enumerate. See Calculate.
Count, v. i. 1.
To number or be counted; to possess value or carry weight;
hence, to increase or add to the strength or influence of some
party or interest; as, every vote counts; accidents
count for nothing.
This excellent man . . . counted among the
best and wisest of English statesmen.
J. A. Symonds.
2. To reckon; to rely; to depend; -- with
on or upon.
He was brewer to the palace; and it was
apprehended that the government counted on his voice.
Macaulay.
I think it a great error to count upon the
genius of a nation as a standing argument in all ages.
Swift.
3. To take account or note; -- with
of. [Obs.] "No man counts of her beauty."
Shak.
4. (Eng. Law) To plead orally; to
argue a matter in court; to recite a count.
Burrill.
Count, n. [F. conte and
compte, with different meanings, fr. L. computus a
computation, fr. computare. See Count, v.
t.] 1. The act of numbering;
reckoning; also, the number ascertained by counting.
Of blessed saints for to increase the
count.
Spenser.
By this count, I shall be much in
years.
Shak.
2. An object of interest or account;
value; estimation. [Obs.] "All his care and count."
Spenser.
3. (Law) A formal statement of the
plaintiff's case in court; in a more technical and correct sense,
a particular allegation or charge in a declaration or indictment,
separately setting forth the cause of action or
prosecution. Wharton.
&fist; In the old law books, count was used
synonymously with declaration. When the plaintiff has but
a single cause of action, and makes but one statement of it, that
statement is called indifferently count or
declaration, most generally, however, the latter. But
where the suit embraces several causes, or the plaintiff makes
several different statements of the same cause of action, each
statement is called a count, and all of them combined, a
declaration. Bouvier. Wharton.
Count, n. [F. conte, fr. L.
comes, comitis, associate, companion, one of the
imperial court or train, properly, one who goes with another;
com- + ire to go, akin to Skr. i to go.]
A nobleman on the continent of Europe, equal in rank to an
English earl.
&fist; Though the tittle Count has never been
introduced into Britain, the wives of Earls have, from the
earliest period of its history, been designated as
Countesses. Brande & C.
Count palatine. (a)
Formerly, the proprietor of a county who possessed royal
prerogatives within his county, as did the Earl of Chester, the
Bishop of Durham, and the Duke of Lancaster. [Eng.] See
County palatine, under County. (b)
Originally, a high judicial officer of the German emperors;
afterward, the holder of a fief, to whom was granted the right to
exercise certain imperial powers within his own domains.
[Germany]
