Follow
King James Dictionary [1]
FOL'LOW,
1. To go after or behind to walk, ride or move behind, but in the same direction. Soldiers will usually follow a brave officer. 2. To pursue to chase as an enemy, or as game. 3. To accompany to attend in a journey.
And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode on the camels, and followed the man. Genesis 24 .
4. To accompany to be of the same company to attend, for any purpose. Luke 5 . 5. To succeed in order of time to come after as a storm is followed by a calm.
Signs following signs lead on the mighty year.
6. To be consequential to result from, as effect from a cause. Intemperance is often followed by disease or poverty, or by both. 7. To result from, as an inference or deduction. It follows from these facts that the accused is guilty. 8. To pursue with the eye to keep the eyes fixed on a moving body. He followed or his eyes followed the ship, till it was beyond sight.
He followed with his eyes the fleeting shade.
9. To imitate to copy as, to follow a pattern or model to follow fashion. 10. To embrace to adopt and maintain to have or entertain like opinions to think or believe like another as, to follow the opinions and tenets of a philsophic sect to follow Plato. 11. To obey to observe to practice to act in conformity to. It is our duty to follow the commands of Christ. Good soldiers follow the orders of their general good servants follow the directions of their master. 12. To pursue as an object of desire to endeavor to obtain.
Follow peace with all men. Hebrews 12 .
13. To use to practice to make the chief business as, to follow the trade of a carpenter to follow the profession of law. 14. To adhere to to side with.
The house of Judah followed David. 2 Samuel 2 .
15. To adhere to to honor to worship to serve.
If the Lord be God, follow him. 1 Kings 18 .
16. To be led or guided by.
Wo to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing. Ezekiel 13 .
17. To move on in the same course or direction to be guided by as, to follow a track or course.
FOL'LOW,
1. To come after another.
The famine - shall follow close after you. Jeremiah 42 .
2. To attend to accompany. 3. To be posterior in time as following ages. 4. To be consequential, as effect to cause. From such measures, great mischiefs must follow. 5. To result, as an inference. The facts may be admitted, but the inference drawn from them does not follow.
To follow on, to continue pursuit or endeavor to persevere.
Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.
Hosea 6 .
Webster's Dictionary [2]
(1): ( v. t.) To accept as authority; to adopt the opinions of; to obey; to yield to; to take as a rule of action; as, to follow good advice.
(2): ( v. t.) To go or come after; to move behind in the same path or direction; hence, to go with (a leader, guide, etc.); to accompany; to attend.
(3): ( v. t.) To endeavor to overtake; to go in pursuit of; to chase; to pursue; to prosecute.
(4): ( n.) The art or process of following; specif., in some games, as billiards, a stroke causing a ball to follow another ball after hitting it. Also used adjectively; as, follow shot.
(5): ( v. t.) To copy after; to take as an example.
(6): ( v. t.) To succeed in order of time, rank, or office.
(7): ( v. t.) To result from, as an effect from a cause, or an inference from a premise.
(8): ( v. t.) To watch, as a receding object; to keep the eyes fixed upon while in motion; to keep the mind upon while in progress, as a speech, musical performance, etc.; also, to keep up with; to understand the meaning, connection, or force of, as of a course of thought or argument.
(9): ( v. t.) To walk in, as a road or course; to attend upon closely, as a profession or calling.
(10): ( v. i.) To go or come after; - used in the various senses of the transitive verb: To pursue; to attend; to accompany; to be a result; to imitate.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [3]
Follow . This Eng. verb means now no more than to come after, but in older Eng. it was often equivalent to pursue. Now it states no more than the relative place of two persons, formerly it expressed purpose or determination. Tindale translates Leviticus 26:17 ‘ye shal flee when no man foloweth you,’ and Deuteronomy 28:22 ‘they [the diseases named] shall folowe the, intyll thou perishe.’ In AV [Note: Authorized Version.] to follow is sometimes to imitate, as 2 Thessalonians 3:7 ‘For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us.’
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [4]
fol´ō ( אחר , 'aḥar , רדף , rādhaph ; ἀκολουθέω , akolouthéō , διώκω , diō̇kō ) : Frequently the translation of 'aḥar , "after," e.g. Numbers 14:24 , "hath followed me fully," literally, "fulfilled after me" ( Numbers 32:11 , Numbers 32:12; Deuteronomy 1:36; Amos 7:15 ); rādhaph is "to pursue," and is often so translated; it is translated "follow" ( Psalm 23:6; Isaiah 5:11 , etc.); "follow after" ( Genesis 44:4; Exodus 14:4 ); reghel , "foot," is several times translated "follow" (literally, "at the foot of"; Exodus 11:8; Judges 8:5 , etc.); hālakh 'aḥar , "to go after" ( Deuteronomy 4:3; 1 Kings 14:8 , etc.); yālakh 'aḥar , "to go on after" ( Genesis 24:5; Judges 2:19 , etc.); dābhēḳ , "to cause to cleave to" is "follow hard after" ( 1 Samuel 14:22; Psalm 63:8 , etc.).
In the New Testament, in addition to akoloutheō ( Matthew 4:20 , Matthew 4:22 , Matthew 4:25 , etc.) various words and phrases are rendered "follow," e.g. Deúte opı́sō mou , "Come after me" ( Matthew 4:19 , "Follow me," the Revised Version (British and American) "Come ye after me"); diōkō , "to pursue" ( Luke 17:23; 1 Thessalonians 5:15 , the Revised Version (British and American) "follow after," etc.); miméomai , "to imitate" ( Hebrews 13:7 , "whose faith follow," the Revised Version (British and American) "imitate their faith"; 2 These Hebrews 3:7 , Hebrews 3:9; 3 John 1:11 ); compounds of akoloutheō with ex , pará , sun , etc. ( 2 Peter 1:16; Mark 16:20; Acts 16:17; Mark 5:37 , etc.).
English Revised Version, "Follow after faithfulness" makes an important change in Psalm 37:3 , where the King James Version has "and verily thou shalt be fed"; but the American Standard Revised Version has "feed on his faithfulness," margin "feed securely or verily thou shalt be fed." For "attained" ( 1 Timothy 4:6 ) the Revised Version (British and American) gives "followed until now."
