Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Reply

Reply (r?-pl?") , intransitive verb

[Old English replien, Old French replier, French répliquer, from Latin replicare to fold back, make a reply; pref. re- re- + plicare to fold. See Ply, and compare Replica.]

1.
To make a return in words or writing; to respond; to answer.
O man, who art thou that repliest against God? — Rom. ix. 20
2.
(Law) To answer a defendant's plea.
3.
Figuratively, to do something in return for something done; as, to reply to a signal; to reply to the fire of a battery.

Reply , transitive verb

To return for an answer. — Milton
Lords, vouchsafe To give me hearing what I shall reply. — Shakespeare

Reply (-pl{not transcribed}z") , noun

[See Reply, v. i., and compare Replica.]

That which is said, written, or done in answer to what is said, written, or done by another; an answer; a response.