Forms: 4 cuntre, cunter, 4–5 countur, -our, 4–6 countre, 5 cownter, contre, countire, cowuntur, 5– counter, (6– Sc. conter). [In senses 1, 2, aphetic form of ACOUNTER, ENCOUNTER; in sense 3, influenced by, if not formed afresh from, COUNTER- pref.; sense 5 goes with COUNTER sb.5 sense 3. But in later use all the senses tend to mutual association; cf. 1813 in 2 b.]
I. † 1. trans. To meet. Obs.
c. 1325. Coer de L., 60. Whenne they come on mydde the sea … Another schip they countryd thoo.
1813. Scott, Rokeby, III. x. His eyes … Counter’d at once a dazzling glance.
† b. intr. (with again = against). Obs.
c. 1475. Partenay, 1640. Lordys of contre contring thaim again With a wilfull hert full gentilly resceyuyng. Ibid., 3346. The messingere lefte contred hym again.
2. trans. To meet in opposition; to encounter or engage in combat.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1191. Duke Nestor anon, nobli arayed, Countres the kyng.
c. 1475. Partenay, 3030. Gaffroy cam faste contring the Geaunt then.
1513. Bradshaw, St. Werburge, I. 236. Fewe of them haue countred … great nombre of enemyes.
1557. Paynel, Barclay’s Jugurth, B ij b. Often tymes countryng his enemies without dred of perill.
b. intr. (Const. with.)
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 38. With þe erle of Kent þei countred at Medeweie.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 207. [Men] myȝt fle fro toun to toun and nevere countre wiþ her enemyes.
1430. Lydg., Chron. Troy, III. xxiii. As they countre … Eueryche vnhorsed knightly hath his feare.
c. 1465. Eng. Chron. (Camden), 80. There bothe hostes mette and countred to gedre.
15[?]. Eger & Grine, 144 (Furniv., Percy Folio, I. 358). To counter on ffoote he was full throe.
1813. Scott, Triermain, II. xx. Blithe at the trumpet let them go, And fairly counter blow for blow.
II. 3. trans. (fig.) To go counter to, to act or speak in opposition to, or so as to check; to oppose, encounter, contradict, controvert.
1382. Wyclif, Prol. to O. Test., 55. Heere Sire … countrith not Austen, but declareth him ful mychel to symple mennis witt.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., III. 66. Se the profession Of every vyne, and wherin thai myscheve As counter it.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Σκιαμαχια, Wks. (1711), 190. The two houses … issued out a declaration … To counter this, the king sent a message … to the lords of his council in Scotland.
a. 1734. North, Exam., II. iv. § 31 (1740), 246. To all which Matters … his Answer countered every Design of the Interrogations.
1840. Whistlebinkie (Sc. Songs, 1890), I. 254. Wha conters him may rue the same.
1884. Earl of Dunraven, in 19th Cent., March, 426. The resolution … was … countered by an amendment.
1892. A. Robertson, St. Athanasius, Proleg. p. xix. The ‘eternity’ of the Son was countered by the text, ‘We that live are alway (2 Cor. iv. 11)!’
1892. J. M. Barrie, Lit. Minister, xxvi. 280. That’s what I say; but Elspeth conters me, of course, and says she [etc.].
b. Chess. To meet or answer with a counter-move.
1890. Times, 12 Dec., 5/6. White then moved his Kt to B 2, which Black countered with R to K square.
1891. Sat. Rev., 28 March, 394/1. The system by which they were countered and checkmated.
† 4. intr. (fig.) To engage in contest, argue in opposition, dispute, retort against, with. Obs.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., I. xiii. 72. Who euer wole … countre aȝens the firste conclusioun.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 41 b. Then Diogenes again countreyng said, If Aristippus had learned to be contented, [etc.]. Ibid. etc. (1548), Erasm. Par. John x. 74 b. We wil not counter with them and geue rebuke for rebuke.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xix. (Arb.), 220. So cunning and so wise, To counter vvith her goodman, and all by contraries.
III. 5. Boxing. To give a return blow while receiving or parrying the blow of an antagonist; to strike with a counter-blow. Also transf. and fig.
a. trans.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., xlv. (1889), 437. Of course I countered him there with tremendous effect.
1865. Sat. Rev., 9 Dec., 724. We are glad to set down the author of such smart hits as a misanthrope, because it is easier to counter than to parry them.
b. intr.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, II. iii. Instead of trying to counter, and leading his enemy.
1885. Sat. Rev., 7 Nov., 600. Lord Randolph Churchill and Mr. Chamberlain have, in the language of an almost lost art, ‘countered’ heavily during the past week.
1889. Badminton Libr., Boxing, 166. Instead of thus countering on the head the blow may be aimed at the ribs.
