construe

plural construes · alternative obsolete conster

1. A translation.

   Prayers and calling-over seemed twice as short as usual, and before they could get construes of a tithe of the hard passages marked in the margin of their books, they were all seated round, and the Doctor was standing in the middle, talking in whispers to the master.

   1857, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days

2. An interpretation.

present singular third person construes · participle present construing · participle past construed · past construed · alternative obsolete conster

1. transitiveTo understand (something) as meaning, to take to mean.

   The world must construe according to its wits; this court must construe according to the law.

   1954, Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons

   1 more example

   Bru[tus]. […] But let not therefore my good Friends be greeu'd (Among which number Cassius be you one) Nor conſtrue any further my neglect, Then that poore Brutus with himſelfe at warre, Forgets the ſhews of Loue to other men.

   1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 110, column 1

2. transitiveTo interpret (something) to another or publicly, explain the meaning of (something, usually language).

   This is a new fashionable proverb, which I must construe to you.

   1750, “To [Sir Horace Mann], Feb. 25. — Ministerial quarrels […] ”, in The Letter of Horace Walpole, Earl of Oxford, volume II, London: Richard Betley, New Burlington Street, published 1840, page 319

3. transitivegrammarTo analyze the grammatical structure of a clause or sentence; to parse.

   1 more example

   Thus, in a sentence such as: (113) John considers [_S Fred to be too sure of himself] the italicised Reflexive himself can only be construed with Fred, not with John: this follows from our assumption that non-subject Reflexives must have an antecedent within their own S. Notice, however, that in a sentence such as: (114) John seems to me [_S — to have perjured himself] himself must be construed with John.

   1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 8, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 436

4. ergativegrammarTo admit of grammatical analysis.
5. transitiveTo translate.
6. To infer.
7. obsoleteTo explain.

   Bru[tus]. […] Portia go in a while, And by and by thy boſome ſhall partake The ſecrets of my Heart. All my engagements, I will construe to thee, All the Charractery of my ſad browes.

   1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 116, column 2