consult

plural consults

1. UScountableA visit to consult somebody, such as a doctor; a consultation.

   Synonyms: consultation

2. countableobsoleteuncountableThe act of consulting or deliberating; consultation.

   For firſt upon conſult of reaſon, there will bee found no eaſie aſſurance for to faſten a materiall or temperamentall propriety upon any nation; […]

   1646, Thomas Browne, “Of the Iewes”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC, 4th book, page 201

3. countableobsoleteuncountableThe result of consultation; determination; decision.

   [T]he council broke; / And all their grave conſults diſſolv'd in ſmoke.

   a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The First Book of Homer’s Ilias”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 431

4. countableobsoleteuncountableA council; a meeting for consultation.

   a consult of coquettes

   1730, Jonathan Swift, chapter 5, in Death and Daphne

5. countableobsoleteuncountableAgreement; concert.

present singular third person consults · participle present consulting · participle past consulted · past consulted

1. intransitiveTo seek the opinion or advice of another; to take counsel; to deliberate together; to confer; to advise.

   1661 (written), published in 1681, Thomas Hobbes, A Dialogue between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws of England All the laws of England have been made by the kings of England, consulting with the nobility and commons.

   2 more examples

   Let us consult upon to-morrow's business.

   c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]

   SIR,—I have the honour to refer to your letter requesting me to desire Mr. Y. Ching-chong to come and consult with the Municipal Council, as Mr. Wood, the Chairman of that Body had informed you at a personal interview that they fully concurred in the desirability of co-operation with Mr. Ching-chong in improvements in the Honan road draining and lighting.

   1889 January 11 [1888 December 21], Kung Taotai, “North Honan Road.”, in M. F. A. Fraser, transl., North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette, volume XLII, number 1119, Shanghai, →OCLC, page 37, column 1

   Synonyms: see

2. intransitiveTo advise or offer expertise.

   Well, I have a trade of my own. I suppose I am the only one in the world. I’m a consulting detective, if you can understand what that is.

   1887, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet”, in Beeton’s Christmas Annual, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward, Lock & Co., part I (Being a reprint from the reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D., […]), chapter II (The Science of Deduction), page 13

3. intransitiveTo work as a consultant or contractor rather than as a full-time employee of a firm.
4. transitiveTo ask advice of; to seek the opinion of (a person)

   If you have no library commission, consult a lawyer and get from him a careful statement of what can be done under present statutory regulations.

   1899, John Cotton Dana, chapter 1, in A Library Primer

   Synonyms: seek

5. transitiveTo refer to (something) for information.

   Which reminds me that I have never remembered from that hour to consult the dictionary upon a selvage.

   1904, Guy Wetmore Carryl, chapter 3, in Far from the Maddening Girls

   1 more example

   Men forgot, or feared, to consult nature, to seek for new truths, to do what the great discoverers of other times had done; they were content to consult libraries.

   1837, William Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences

6. transitiveTo have reference to, in judging or acting; to have regard to; to consider; as, to consult one's wishes.

   We are […] to consult the necessities of life, rather than matters of ornament and delight.

   1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC

7. obsoletetransitiveTo deliberate upon; to take for.

   Many things were there consulted for the future, yet nothing was positively resolved.

   1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater

8. obsoletetransitiveTo bring about by counsel or contrivance; to devise; to contrive.

   Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Habakkuk 2:10