greeting
- the act or words of a person who greets.
- a friendly message from someone who is absent: a greeting from a friend in another country.
- greetings, an expression of friendly or respectful regard: Send my greetings to your family.
Origin of greeting
greet1
- to address with some form of salutation; welcome.
- to meet or receive: to be greeted by cheering crowds; to greet a proposal with boos and hisses.
- to manifest itself to: Music greeted his ear as he entered the salon.
- Obsolete. to give salutations on meeting.
Origin of greet1
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comgreet2
- to grieve; lament; cry.
- to lament; bewail.
Origin of greet2
Related Words
letter, nod, ovation, salute, reception, hello, card, hail, salutation, blow, respects, acknowledgment, testimonial, aloha, note, notice, attention, rumble, regards, addressExamples from the Web for greeting
Contemporary Examples
Clinton, meanwhile, spent several minutes greeting audience members along the rope line and posing for cellphone selfies.
Hillary Clinton Basks in Labor’s Love: ‘This Is Like a Homecoming!’David Freedlander
September 16, 2014
Later she explains why typical forms of greeting in Sierra Leone, such as shaking hands and hugging, are no longer acceptable.
According to the recipient of his greeting, Patreese Johnson, he said, “I want some of that” and motioned to her crotch.
They accuse old friends and colleagues of terrible things, even if they do something simple like return a greeting on Facebook.
A city bus rolls past; the driver gives a greeting honk and Furry waves.
Historical Examples
I pray you, Alleyne, to give him greeting from me, and to ask him for his titles and coat-armor.
The White CompanyArthur Conan Doyle
It would be well, perchance, that you should give him greeting from me.
The White CompanyArthur Conan Doyle
So, he disregarded Gilder's greeting, and went on speaking to the son.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
They did not speak beyond their greeting, until he had gone over the record.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
The good lady, oblivious to the humorous side of her greeting, flushed in anger.
ThoroughbredsW. A. Fraser
greeting
- the act or an instance of welcoming or saluting on meeting
- (often plural)
- an expression of friendly salutation
- (as modifier)a greetings card
greet1
- to meet or receive with expressions of gladness or welcome
- to send a message of friendship to
- to receive in a specified mannerher remarks were greeted by silence
- to become apparent tothe smell of bread greeted him
Word Origin
greet2
- (intr) to weep; lament
- weeping; lamentation
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for greeting
n.
Old English greting "salutation," verbal noun from gretan (see greet). Related: Greetings. First record of greeting card is from 1876.
greet
v.
Old English gretan "to come in contact with" (in sense of "attack, accost" as well as "salute, welcome," and "touch, take hold of, handle"), from West Germanic *grotjan (cf. Old Saxon grotian, Old Frisian greta, Dutch groeten, Old High German gruozen, German grüßen "to salute, greet"), perhaps originally "to resound" (via notion of "cause to speak"), causative of Proto-Germanic *grætanan, root of Old English grætan (Anglian gretan) "weep, bewail," from PIE *gher- "to call out." Greet still can mean "cry, weep" in Scottish & northern England dialect, though this might be from a different root. Grætan is probably also the source of the second element in regret. Related: Greeted; greeting.