address

Less common meanings

6. 6
   write on envelopeverbtransitive

   To mark a letter, envelope, or parcel with the name and address of the person it is going to.

   Volunteers spent the evening helping seniors address their holiday cards.

   The clerk addressed each invoice to the correct branch office.

   UsageYou address a letter to someone: the package was addressed to her grandmother.

7. 7
   manner of speakingnoununcountable

   A person's manner or style of speaking or writing to another.

   The diplomat's easy address won over even his rivals.

   Her form of address in the letter was polite but cold, a stiff 'Dear Mr. Lee.'

   UsageUse form of address for a name or title used when speaking or writing to someone. Older books use of pleasing address.

   Similarmanner, demeanor, bearing

8. 8
   memory locationnouncountable

   The numerical designation of a particular place where data is stored in a computer's memory.

   The pointer holds the address of the variable rather than its value.

   Reading from an invalid address caused the program to crash.

   Note

   The postal image carries over neatly. Memory is a row of numbered cells, and the address is a cell's number, not what is stored there. That distinction is the whole point of a pointer, which holds an address rather than a value. Addresses are usually written in hexadecimal. A program that reads from an address it is not allowed to access is likely to crash. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • Memory can be represented as numbered cells, with an address identifying a cell rather than its contents. plus.tuni.fi
   • A pointer stores an address rather than the data at that address. courses.physics.illinois.edu
   • Memory addresses are usually written in hexadecimal. bob.cs.sonoma.edu
   • This conflates uninitialized contents with inaccessible memory. Reading uninitialized data need not crash; reading inaccessible memory can crash. valgrind.org
9. 9
   verbtransitive

   To apply oneself to a task, directing one's skill and effort toward it, usually 'address oneself to'.

   Once the meeting ended, the committee addressed itself to drafting a new policy.

   A good leader will address himself to the hardest problems first.

   UsageUsually address oneself to a task: she addressed herself to the housing crisis.

   Similarapply, devote, dedicate, commit

   Note

   Here the verb drops the reflexive and takes the task directly as its object. In Stephen King's The Moving Finger (1990), a man "addressed the John," setting about the business at hand. Lee A. Groat's "Gemstones" in American Scientist (2012) lists materials "not addressed in this article," meaning not discussed. That writerly use, to treat or cover, sits close to tackling a problem. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • Stephen King wrote The Moving Finger, first published in 1990. en.wikipedia.org
   • The story's narration describes a man who 'addressed the John'. en.wiktionary.org
   • Lee A. Groat's Gemstones appeared in American Scientist in 2012. eoas.ubc.ca
   • Groat's article lists gem materials 'not addressed in this article'. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    access memoryverbtransitive

    To identify and access a particular location in a computer's memory.

    A 32-bit system can address only about four gigabytes of RAM.

    The instruction addresses the memory cell holding the loop counter.

    Note

    The verb of a memory address has two working uses. An instruction addresses the memory locations it reads or writes, and a system addresses the whole range of memory it can reach. The second use is a statement of capacity rather than a single act. That is why a 32-bit machine is said to address only about four gigabytes. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • An instruction can access multiple memory locations, including separate source and destination locations. intel.com
    • 32-bit byte addresses cover four gibibytes within one address space; address extensions can allow a 32-bit system to access more physical memory. learn.microsoft.com
11. 11
    nouncountable

    A formal written statement, appeal, petition, or reply presented to a sovereign or head of state, such as a parliament's reply to the monarch's opening speech.

    The assembly drafted an address to the monarch protesting the new tax.

    An address of congratulation was presented to the queen on her jubilee.

    Similarpetition, appeal

    Note

    In political usage the address travels upward. A body presents an appeal or petition to the sovereign or head of state, usually with to, as in an address to the Crown. That direction separates it from a speech, which a speaker delivers to an audience. Here the sovereign is the one receiving, never the one speaking. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • An address in the specified political sense is an appeal or petition presented to a sovereign or head of state. en.wiktionary.org
    • In this formal parliamentary sense, the sovereign receives the address. parliament.uk
12. 12
    set up (golf)verbtransitive

    In golf, to take up position and place the clubhead behind the ball in preparation for a stroke.

    The golfer addressed the ball, settling her feet before the swing.

    Players must address the ball cleanly without grounding the club in a hazard.

    UsageUsually address the ball, meaning get ready to hit it, not speak to it.

    Note

    Newcomers easily misread it as talking to the ball. The idea is readiness, the same one carried by the old "make ready" verb. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The older verb meant to prepare or make ready; the golf sense shares this idea of readiness. en.wiktionary.org
13. 13
    golf stancenoun

    In golf, the act of setting the clubhead beside the ball in preparation for a swing.

    Her address looked relaxed, the clubface aligned neatly with the target.

    Any tremor during the address can throw the whole swing off line.

    Similarsetup

    Note

    Golf has kept alive the idea of readiness that has otherwise faded from the word. The address is the set-up before the swing, when the clubhead comes up to the ball. It is standard golfing language and has nothing to do with speaking. It pairs with the verb, address the ball, and descends from the old noun for getting ready. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • Address formerly meant getting ready, a meaning now obsolete outside its specialized survival in golf. en.wiktionary.org
14. 14
    verbarchaictransitive

    To make romantic advances to someone; to court or woo a person as a suitor.

    Similarwoo, court, romance, solicit

    Note

    Courtship in the old manner: to address a woman was to pay her formal suit, the verbal side of a suitor's addresses. Its modern equivalents are far less ceremonious, romance someone or put the moves on someone. The gap shows how much the manners around the word have changed. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The verb address could mean to court or woo someone. en.wiktionary.org
    • The corresponding noun addresses referred to romantic approaches. en.wiktionary.org
15. 15
    nounarchaicplural

    Polite attention paid to a person, especially in courtship; a romantic advance.

    Note

    Usually plural and followed by to: Richard Steele's The Lover and Reader has a woman neither insensible of a man's perfections "nor displeased at his Addresses to me." The word belongs to the formal courtship of older fiction and now reads as period language. In modern prose, advances or attentions does the same work. It pairs with the verb meaning to woo. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The romantic noun is chiefly plural. en.wiktionary.org
    • The quoted wording appears in Richard Steele's The Lover and Reader. en.wiktionary.org
    • The noun corresponds to the verb meaning to woo. en.wiktionary.org
16. 16
    nounarchaic

    Skillful readiness in handling a task; the resourcefulness and ability needed to manage something well.

    At their turning-lathes, they employ their toes to guide the chisel; and, in these pedipulations, shew to Europeans a diverting degree of address.

    1813, “Customs, Manners, and present Appearance of Constantinople”, in The New Annual Register

    The warmth of Father Pedro's constitution had formerly drawn him into some scrapes from which it required all his address to disengage himself, and rendered him exceedingly cautious ever after.

    1789, John Moore, Zeluco

    Note

    Here begins the word's second branch: to set a thing straight was also to make it ready, and readiness became skill. Sheridan's The School for Scandal (first staged in 1777) calls for "no small degree of address," and in John Moore's Zeluco (1789), Father Pedro needs "all his address" to escape his scrapes. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • The word's ancestry includes the meaning 'to straighten'. en.wiktionary.org
    • An earlier meaning involved making ready. en.wiktionary.org
    • John Moore wrote Zeluco, first published in 1789. valancourtbooks.com
    • Zeluco describes Father Pedro using 'all his address' to extricate himself from scrapes. en.wiktionary.org
17. 17
    verbarchaictransitive

    To clothe or array someone; to dress a person in particular garments.

    Similardress, clothe, attire, array, robe

    Note

    This archaic sense keeps the word's oldest flavor. Middle English adressen meant "to raise erect, adorn," and dress still sits inside it. John Jewel, writing in 1566–67, says Tecla "addressed herself in man's apparel." Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Address derives from Middle English adressen, glossed as “to raise erect, adorn.” en.wiktionary.org
    • Address and dress are etymologically related. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Jewel passage is conventionally dated 1566–67. en.wikipedia.org
    • John Jewel wrote that Tecla “addressed herself in man's apparel.” archive.org
18. 18
    verbobsoletetransitive

    To aim or direct something, such as a weapon or one's steps, toward a particular point.

    And this good knight his way with me addrest.

    1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene

    Note

    What gets aimed here is often a course. In Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1590), a knight "his way with me addrest," steering his path alongside the speaker's. The spelling addrest is the old past form, now obsolete. It turns up again in the "make ready" verb, so a reader of Spenser should expect addressed under both spellings and in both meanings. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene; its first three books, including the quoted passage, were first published in 1590. celm.folger.edu
    • The quotation describes a knight directing his course alongside the speaker. gutenberg.org
    • Addrest is an obsolete past-tense and past-participle spelling of address. en.wiktionary.org
    • Spenser also uses addrest in the sense of being prepared or equipped. gutenberg.org
19. 19
    verbobsoleteintransitive

    Obsolete: to prepare oneself or something, making ready for action or use.

    Let us address to tend on Hector's heels.

    c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”

    Note

    Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida (1609) shows the bare construction: "Let us address to tend on Hector's heels," meaning let us get ready to follow. The period also said address oneself with the same meaning. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • William Shakespeare wrote Troilus and Cressida, first published in 1609. shakespearedocumented.folger.edu
    • The quotation occurs in the play; Aeneas speaks it in Act IV, scene iv. shakespeare.mit.edu
    • Address here means to get oneself ready. en.wiktionary.org
    • The period also used address reflexively to mean prepare oneself. shakespeare.mit.edu
20. 20
    nounobsolete

    The act of getting ready for something; the preparation one makes before undertaking a task.

    But now again she makes address to speak.

    1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes

    Note

    Milton's Samson Agonistes (1671) shows the construction it lived in: "she makes address to speak," meaning she gets ready to speak. The phrase make address to was followed by a verb, and the noun named the gathering of oneself just before an act. The Milton line is easily misread as "she makes a speech." Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • John Milton wrote Samson Agonistes; its first-edition title page is dated 1671. en.wikisource.org
    • The quotation occurs in Samson Agonistes, spoken by the Chorus about Dalila. rpo.library.utoronto.ca
    • Address names preparation here, so the phrase means she gets ready to speak. en.wiktionary.org
    • The passage uses make address followed by an infinitive denoting the imminent action. rpo.library.utoronto.ca
21. 21
    nounobsolete

    Guidance, direction, or help given to a person in need of assistance.

    Note

    This sense wears the word's origin most plainly. Old French adrecier meant "to straighten, address," and behind it stands Latin dīrēctus, "straight; right"; to give someone address was to set their course straight. A reader who meets it in older prose should not take it for a speech or a street. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Old French adrecier meant "to straighten, address." en.wiktionary.org
    • The word ultimately derives from Latin dīrēctus, meaning "straight; right." en.wiktionary.org
    • Giving someone address meant providing guidance or help; setting their course straight is a figurative explanation. en.wiktionary.org
22. 22
    verbdated

    To consign or entrust goods to the care of another person acting as one's agent or factor.