read over
read over verb: to read (a document, book, etc.) through, though not necessarily thoroughly.
Verb
read over (third-person singular simple present reads over, present participle reading over, simple past and past participle read over)
- To read (a document, book, etc.) through, though not necessarily thoroughly.
- In superstitious belief, to read from the Bible out loud physically over something so as to confer some magical relief or power.
- [H]e read over the changeling the following spell: Receive, O earth! O virgin earth!1866, William P. Nimmo, Nimmo's Popular Tales, volume 3, page 252
- "He could read over and cure all sorts of ailments and sprains, stop bleeding, melt lead, and tell of stolen goods; and to tell the truth, he knew also a little about witchcraft, and could afflict people with evil."1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 121
Forms of read over
| third-person singular present | reads over |
|---|---|
| present participle | reading over |
| past participle | read over |
| past | read over |
Questions about read over
- What does read over mean?
- Read over means to read (a document, book, etc.) through, though not necessarily thoroughly.
- What part of speech is read over?
- Read over is a verb.
- What is the past tense of read over?
- The past tense of read over is read over.
Words near read over in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: read over (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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