noun

1. something said or written in return to a question, argument, letter, etc.
2. any act in response or retaliation his answer was a well-aimed blow
3. one that is a counterpart or equivalent of another, often as the result of imitation Japan's answer to Sherlock Holmes
4. a solution to a problem
5. Law a written pleading by which the defendant replies to the plaintiff's charges; defense
6. Music in a fugue, the second or fourth restatement of the subject in another voice and transposed to another key, usually at the interval of a fourth or fifth

Etymology: ME andsware < OE andswaru < and-, against + swerian, swear

intransitive verb

1. to reply in words, by an action, etc.
2. to react to a stimulus; respond (to) the horse answered to its rider's touch
3. to serve the purpose; be sufficient
4. to be responsible or liable (to a person for an action, accusation, etc.)
5. to be in conformity; correspond (to) he answers to the description

transitive verb

1. 1. to reply to in words, by an action, etc.
   2. to say or write in reply
2. to respond to the signal of (a telephone, doorbell, etc.)
3. to fulfill satisfactorily; comply with; be sufficient for; serve the makeshift tent answered their purpose
4. to defend oneself against (an accusation, criticism, etc.); refute
5. to agree with; conform to; suit he answers the description
6. Obsolete to atone for