EN'TER, v.t. [L. inter, intra, whence intro, to enter. The L. inter seems to be in, with the termination ter, as in subter, from sub.]

1. To go or come in; to pass into; as, to enter into a country.
2. To flow in; as, water enters into a ship.
3. To pierce; to penetrate; as, a ball or an arrow enters into the body.
4. To penetrate mentally; as, to enter into the principles of action.
5. To engage in; as, to enter into business or service; to enter into visionary projects.
6. To be initiated in; as, to enter into a taste of pleasure or magnificence. Addison.
7. To be an ingredient; to form a constituent part. Lead enters into the composition of pewter.

1. To move or pass into a place, in any manner whatever; come or go in; to walk or ride in; to flow in; to pierce or penetrate. A man enters a house; an army enters a city or a camp; a river enters the sea; a sword enters the body; the air enters a room at every crevice.
2. To advance into, in the progress of life; as, a youth has entered his tenth year.
3. To begin in a business, employment or service; to enlist or engage in; as, the soldier entered the service at eighteen years of age.
4. To become a member of; as, to enter college; to enter a society.
5. To admit or introduce; as, the youth was entered a member of college.
6. To set down in writing; to set an account in a book or register; as, the clerk entered the account or charge in the journal; he entered debt and credit at the time.
7. To set down, as a name; to enroll; as, to enter a name in the enlistment.
8. To lodge a manifest of goods at the custom house, and gain admittance or permission to land; as, to enter goods. We say also, to enter a ship at the custom house.

1. A prefix signifying between, among, part.
2. To come or go into] to pass into the interior of; to pass within the outer cover or shell of; to penetrate; to pierce; as, to enter a house, a closet, a country, a door, etc.; the river enters the sea.
   
   

   That darksome cave they enter. Spenser.

   I, . . . with the multitude of my redeemed,
   Shall enter heaven, long absent. Milton.

3. To go or come in; -- often with in used pleonastically; also, to begin; to take the first steps.
   
   
   "The year entering." Evelyn.

   No evil thing approach nor enter in. Milton.

   Truth is fallen in the street, and equity can not enter. Is. lix. 14.

   For we which have believed do enter into rest. Heb. iv. 3.

4. To unite in; to join; to be admitted to; to become a member of; as, to enter an association, a college, an army.
5. To get admission; to introduce one's self; to penetrate; to form or constitute a part; to become a partaker or participant; to share; to engage; -- usually with into; sometimes with on or upon; as, a ball enters into the body; water enters into a ship; he enters into the plan; to enter into a quarrel; a merchant enters into partnership with some one; to enter upon another's land; the boy enters on his tenth year; to enter upon a task; lead enters into the composition of pewter.
6. To engage in; to become occupied with; as, to enter the legal profession, the book trade, etc.
7. To penetrate mentally; to consider attentively; -- with into.
   
   

   He is particularly pleased with . . . Sallust for his entering into internal principles of action. Addison.

8. To pass within the limits of; to attain; to begin; to commence upon; as, to enter one's teens, a new era, a new dispensation.
9. To cause to go (into), or to be received (into); to put in; to insert; to cause to be admitted; as, to enter a knife into a piece of wood, a wedge into a log; to enter a boy at college, a horse for a race, etc.
10. To inscribe; to enroll; to record; as, to enter a name, or a date, in a book, or a book in a catalogue; to enter the particulars of a sale in an account, a manifest of a ship or of merchandise at the customhouse.
11. To go into or upon, as lands, and take actual possession of them.
    
    
    (b)
12. To make report of (a vessel or her cargo) at the customhouse; to submit a statement of (imported goods), with the original invoices, to the proper officer of the customs for estimating the duties. See Entry, 4.
13. To file or inscribe upon the records of the land office the required particulars concerning (a quantity of public land) in order to entitle a person to a right pf preëmption.
    
    
    [U.S.] Abbott.
14. To deposit for copyright the title or description of (a book, picture, map, etc.); as, "entered according to act of Congress."
15. To initiate; to introduce favorably.
    
    
    [Obs.] Shak.