texts

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of text.

   Ancient texts often survive only in fragmentary copies.

   He compared the two texts side by side before drawing any conclusions.

   Note

   One spelling, several plurals: texts can be written works, books, scriptural passages chosen for sermons, or the colloquial text messages on a phone. Only the countable uses take the plural. When text means a stretch of writing or readable data in bulk, it stays uncountable (a page full of text, not of texts), so the plural always implies separate, countable items.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of text.

   My sister texts constantly throughout the workday.

   Whenever the alarm trips, the system texts the security team automatically.

   Note

   In current use, this form means messaging by phone, and it works with or without an object. The recipient follows directly, with no preposition: she texts her brother, not texts to him. Without an object, it means sending and receiving messages (he texts all day). An older, dated verb meant writing in large characters, as in text hand. The same spelling also serves as the noun plural.

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