- return
- c.1366, "to come back," from O.Fr. retorner "turn back, return," from re- "back" + torner "to turn" (see turn). Transitive sense is attested from c.1420. The noun is first attested c.1390, "act of coming back;" in the tennis sense, it is from 1886. Meaning "official report of election results" is attested from 1459. Meaning "a yield, a profit" is recorded from 1626. Many happy returns of the day was used by Addison, 1716.