describe

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• transitive verb To give an account of in speech or writing.
• transitive verb To convey an idea or impression of; characterize.
• transitive verb To represent pictorially; depict.
• transitive verb To trace the form or outline of.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To delineate or mark the form or figure of; trace out; outline: as, to describe a circle with the compasses.
• To form or trace by motion: as, a star describes an ellipse in the heavens.
• To write down; inscribe.
• To represent orally or by writing; portray in words; give an account of: as, to describe a person or a scene; to describe a battle.
• To distribute into classes or divisions; divide for representation.
• Synonyms Describe, Narrate, portray, explain. Describe applies primarily to what exists—space, and by extension to what occurs—time, but narrate applies only to the latter: as, to describe a view, a race, or a siege; to narrate an experience or a history. Describe implies often the vividness of personal observation; narrate is more applicable to long series of events. A single narrative may contain many descriptions of separate events.
• To make descriptions; use the power of describing.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb To represent by drawing; to draw a plan of; to delineate; to trace or mark out
• transitive verb To represent by words written or spoken; to give an account of; to make known to others by words or signs.
• transitive verb obsolete To distribute into parts, groups, or classes; to mark off; to class.
• intransitive verb To use the faculty of describing; to give a description.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• verb transitive To represent in words.
• verb transitive (mathematics) To give rise to a geometrical structure.
• verb transitive (biology) To scientifically reveal a new species by technically explaining its characteristics and particularly how it differs from other species.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb make a mark or lines on a surface
• verb to give an account or representation of in words
• verb give a description of
• verb identify as in botany or biology, for example