consult

noun

1. (US, countable)A visit to consult somebody, such as a doctor; a consultation.
2. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)The act of consulting or deliberating; consultation.

   “For firſt upon conſult of reaſon, there will bee found no eaſie aſſurance for to faſten a materiall or temperamentall propriety upon any nation; […]”

3. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)The result of consultation; determination; decision.

   “[T]he council broke; / And all their grave conſults diſſolv'd in ſmoke.”

4. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)A council; a meeting for consultation.

   “a consult of coquettes”

5. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)Agreement; concert.

verb

1. (intransitive)To seek the opinion or advice of another; to take counsel; to deliberate together; to confer; to advise.

   “Let us consult upon to-morrow's business.”

   “1661 (written), published in 1681, Thomas Hobbes, A Dialogue between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws of England All the laws of England have been made by the kings of England, consulting with the nobility and commons.”

   “SIR,—I have the honour to refer to your letter requesting me to desire Mr. Y. Ching-chong to come and consult with the Municipal Council, as Mr. Wood, the Chairman of that Body had informed you at a personal interview that they fully concurred in the desirability of co-operation with Mr. Ching-chong in improvements in the Honan road draining and lighting.”

2. (intransitive)To advise or offer expertise.

   “Well, I have a trade of my own. I suppose I am the only one in the world. I’m a consulting detective, if you can understand what that is.”

3. (intransitive)To work as a consultant or contractor rather than as a full-time employee of a firm.
4. (transitive)To ask advice of; to seek the opinion of (a person)

   “If you have no library commission, consult a lawyer and get from him a careful statement of what can be done under present statutory regulations.”

5. (transitive)To refer to (something) for information.

   “Which reminds me that I have never remembered from that hour to consult the dictionary upon a selvage.”

   “Men forgot, or feared, to consult nature, to seek for new truths, to do what the great discoverers of other times had done; they were content to consult libraries.”

6. (transitive)To have reference to, in judging or acting; to have regard to; to consider; as, to consult one's wishes.

   “We are […] to consult the necessities of life, rather than matters of ornament and delight.”

7. (obsolete, transitive)To deliberate upon; to take for.

   “Many things were there consulted for the future, yet nothing was positively resolved.”

8. (obsolete, transitive)To bring about by counsel or contrivance; to devise; to contrive.

   “Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people.”