consult

Etymology

From Middle French consulter, from Latin cōnsultō (“to deliberate, consult”), frequentative of cōnsulō (“to consult, deliberate, consider, reflect upon, ask advice”), from com- (“together”) + -sulō, from Proto-Indo-European *selh₁- (“to take, grab”).

noun

1. (US, countable) A visit to consult somebody, such as a doctor; a consultation.
2. (obsolete) The act of consulting or deliberating; consultation
3. (obsolete) the result of consultation; determination; decision.
4. (obsolete) A council; a meeting for consultation.
   a consult of coquettes 1730, Jonathan Swift, chapter 5, in Death and Daphne
5. (obsolete) Agreement; concert.

verb

1. (intransitive) To seek the opinion or advice of another; to take counsel; to deliberate together; to confer.
   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.
   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. January 11, 1889 [December 21, 1888], 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
2. (intransitive) To advise or offer expertise.
3. (intransitive) To work as a consultant or contractor rather than as a full-time employee of a firm.
4. (transitive) To 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
5. (transitive) To 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
   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. (transitive) To have reference to, in judging or acting; to have regard to; to consider; as, to consult one's wishes.
7. (transitive, obsolete) To deliberate upon; to take for.
8. (transitive, obsolete) To bring about by counsel or contrivance; to devise; to contrive.