- count
- 1
/kaUnt/ verb
1 SAY NUMBERS also count up (I) to say numbers in their correct order(+ to): Sarah can count up to five now. | Try to count to ten before you lose your temper.2 FIND THE TOTAL also count up (T) to count the people, objects, numbers etc in a group in order to find a total: The teacher was counting the children as they got on the bus. | count sheep (=count imaginary sheep as a way of getting to sleep)3 INCLUDE (T) to include someone or something in a total: There are five people in the family counting my parents. | count sb/sth among: I count Jules and Ady among my closest friends.4 BE ALLOWED (I, T) to be officially allowed or accepted; valid: Illegible entries do not count.5 count yourself lucky/fortunate etc to feel that you are lucky etc: After the avalanche we counted ourselves lucky to be alive.6 IMPORTANT (intransitive not in progressive) to be a very important or valuable thing: First impressions really do count. | count for something/anything/more etc: His promises don't count for much.7 be able to count sb/sth on (the fingers of) one hand spoken used to emphasize how small the number of something is: You could have counted the number of people in the theater on one hand.8 don't count your chickens (before they're hatched) especially spoken used to say that you should not make plans because you hope something good will happen: It should be worth a few million, but I don't like to count my chickens.9 count the cost to start having problems as a result of your earlier decisions or mistakes: We're now counting the cost of not taking out medical insurance.10 who's counting? used to say that you are not worried about the number of times something happens: "But I always smoke your cigarettes." "No problem, who's counting?"-see also: stand up and be counted stand 1, it's the thought that counts thought 2 (12) count sb/sth as phrasal verb (I) to consider or regard someone or something in a particular way: For tax purposes this counts as unearned income. count down phrasal verb (I) to record the time passing until an important event happens: We're counting down to our holiday. count sb in phrasal verb (T) informal to include someone in a planned activity: Mark, can we count you in for the cricket team? count on/upon sb/sth phrasal verb (T)1 to depend on or be certain of someone or something: You can count on my vote. | If I got into trouble I could always count on Rusty. | count on doing sth: We're all counting on winning this contract. | count on sb/sth doing sth: Just don't count on Bev being too thrilled about the news. | count on sb/sth to do sth: You can count on Dean to ruin any party.2 to plan or expect to do something: count on (sb/sth) doing sth: We didn't count on so many people being on vacation.count sb/sth out phrasal verb (T)1 to lay things down one by one as you count them: The teller counted out ten $50 bills.2 informal to not include someone or something: If you're looking for trouble you can count me out.2 noun (C)1 TOTAL the total that you get by counting a particular set of things, or the process of doing this: The vote was so close that we had to have several counts.2 MEASUREMENT a measurement that shows how much of a substance is present in the area or thing being examined: The pollen count is high today. | a low sperm count3 at the last count used to give the latest information about a particular situation: At the last count, 46 students were interested in the trip.4 on all/several etc counts in every way, in several ways etc: Their education policy has failed on several counts.5 keep count to keep a record of the changing total of something over a period of time: I never manage to keep count of what I spend on the credit card.6 lose count to forget a number you were calculating or a total you were trying to count: Shut up - you've made me lose count now!7 be out for the counta) to be in a deep sleep: There's no point in asking George - he's out for the count.b) if a boxer (1) is out for the count, he has been knocked down for ten seconds or more8 LAW technical one of the crimes that someone is charged with: Davis was found not guilty on all counts.9 RANK/TITLE a European nobleman whose rank is similar to a British earl: the Count of Monte Cristo
Longman dictionary of contemporary English. 2004.