2. A piece of metal, ivory, wood, or bone, used in reckoning, in keeping account of games, etc.
The old gods of our own race whose names . . . serve as counters reckon the days of the week.
E. B.
Tylor.
What comes the wool to? . . . I can not do it without counters.
Shak.
3. Money; coin; — used in contempt. [Obs.]
To lock such rascal counters from his friends.
Shak.
4. A prison; either of two prisons formerly in London.
Anne Aysavugh . . . imprisoned in the Counter.
Fuller.
5. A telltale; a contrivance attached to an engine, printing press, or other machine, for the purpose of
counting the revolutions or the pulsations. Knight.
Counter
(Coun"ter), n. [OE. countour, OF. contouer, comptouer, F. comptoir, LL. computatorium,
prop., a computing place, place of accounts, fr. L. computare. See Count, v. t.] A table or board on
which money is counted and over which business is transacted; a long, narrow table or bench, on which
goods are laid for examination by purchasers, or on which they are weighed or measured.
Counter
(Coun"ter), adv. [F. contre, fr. L. contra against. Cf. Contra-.]
1. Contrary; in opposition; in an opposite direction; contrariwise; — used chiefly with run or go.
Running counter to all the rules of virtue.
Locks.
2. In the wrong way; contrary to the right course; as, a hound that runs counter.
This is counter, you false Danish dogs!
Shak.
3. At or against the front or face. [R.]
Which [darts] they never throw counter, but at the back of the flier.
Sandys.
Counter
(Coun"ter), a. Contrary; opposite; contrasted; opposed; adverse; antagonistic; as, a counter current; a
counter revolution; a counter poison; a counter agent; counter fugue. "Innumerable facts attesting the
counter principle." I. Taylor.
Counter approach (Fort.), a trench or work pushed forward from defensive works to meet the approaches
of besiegers. See Approach. — Counter bond (Law), in old practice, a bond to secure one who has
given bond for another. — Counter brace. See Counter brace, in Vocabulary. — Counter deed
(Law), a secret writing which destroys, invalidates, or alters, a public deed. — Counter distinction,
contradistinction. [Obs.] — Counter drain, a drain at the foot of the embankment of a canal or watercourse,
for carrying off the water that may soak through. — Counter extension (Surg.), the fixation of the
upper part of a limb, while extension is practiced on the lower part, as in cases of luxation or fracture.
— Counter fissure (Surg.) Same as Contrafissure. — Counter indication. (Med.) Same as Contraindication.
— Counter irritant (Med.), an irritant to produce a blister, a pustular eruption, or other irritation in
some part of the body, in order to relieve an existing irritation in some other part. "Counter irritants are
of as great use in moral as in physical diseases." Macaulay. — Counter irritation (Med.), the act or
the result of applying a counter irritant. — Counter opening, an aperture or vent on the opposite
side, or in a different place. -Counter parole (Mil.), a word in addition to the password, given in time
of alarm as a signal. — Counter plea (Law), a replication to a plea. Cowell. — Counter pressure,
force or pressure that acts in a contrary direction to some other opposing pressure. — Counter project,
