Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RE-SPOND', v.i. [Fr. repondre; It. rispondere; Sp. responder L; respondeo; re and spondeo, to promise, that is, to send to. Hence responded is to send back.]

1. To answer; to reply. A new affliction strings a new chord in the heart, which responds to some new note of complaint within the wide scale of human woe. – Buckminster.
2. To correspond; to suit. To every theme responds thy various lay. – Broome.
3. To be answerable; to be liable to make payment; as, the defendant is held to respond in damages.