| a |
| 1. art. One; any indefinite example of; used to denote a singular item of a group. | |
| There was a man here looking for you yesterday. | |
| 2. art. Used in conjunction with the adjectives score, dozen, hundred, thousand, and million, as a function word. | |
| I've seen it happen a hundred times. | |
| 3. art. One certain or particular; any single.Brown, Lesley, (2003) | |
| We've received an interesting letter from a Mrs. Miggins of London. | |
| 4. art. The same; one. | |
| We are of a mind on matters of morals. | |
| 5. art. Any, every; used before a noun which has become modified to limit its scope; also used with a negative to indicate not a single one.Lindberg, Christine A. (2007) | |
| A man who dies intestate leaves his children troubles and difficulties. | |
| He fell all that way, and hasn't a bump on his head? | |
| 6. art. Used before plural nouns modified by few, good many, couple, great many, etc. | |
| 7. art. Someone or something like; similar to; Used before a proper noun to create an example out of it. | |
| The center of the village was becoming a Times Square. | |
| 8. prep. (archaic) To do with position or direction; In, on, at, by, towards, onto. | |
| Stand a tiptoe. | |
| 9. prep. To do with separation; In, into. | |
| Torn a pieces. | |
| 10. prep. To do with time; Each, per, in, on, by. | |
| I brush my teeth twice a day. | |
| 11. prep. (obsolete) To do with method; In, with. | |
| 12. prep. (obsolete) To do with role or capacity; In. | |
| A God’s name. | |
| 13. prep. To do with status; In. | |
| King James Bible (II Chronicles 2:18) | |
| To set the people a worke. | |
| 14. prep. (archaic) To do with process, with a passive verb; In the course of, experiencing. | |
| 1964, Bob Dylan, The Times They Are a-Changin’ | |
| The times, they are a-changin'. | |
| 15. prep. (archaic) To do with an action, an active verb; Engaged in. | |
| 1611, King James Bible, Hebrews 11-21 | |
| Jacob, when he was a dying | |
| 16. prep. (archaic) To do with an action/movement; To, into. | |
| 17. v. (archaic, or slang) Have. | |
| I'd a come, if you'd a asked. | |
| 18. pron. (obsolete, outside, England, and Scotland dialects) He. | |
| 19. interj. A meaningless syllable; ah. | |
| 20. prep. (archaic, slang) Of. | |
| The name of John a Gaunt. | |
| 21. adv. (chiefly Scotland) All. | |
| 22. adj. (chiefly Scotland) All. | |
| great |
| 1. adj. Relatively large in scale, size, extent, number (i. e. having many parts or members) or duration (i. e. relatively long); very big. | |
| A great storm is approaching our shores. | |
| a great assembly | |
| a great wait | |
| 2. adj. Of larger size or more importance than others of its kind. | |
| the great auk | |
| 3. adj. (qualifying nouns of family relationship) Involving more generations than the word qualified implies (from 1510s). see Derived terms | |
| great-grandfather | |
| 4. adj. (obsolete, postpositive, followed by 'with') Pregnant; large with young; full of. | |
| great with child | |
| great with hope | |
| 5. adj. (obsolete, except with 'friend' and similar words such as 'mate','buddy') Intimate; familiar. | |
| 6. adj. Extreme or more than usual. | |
| great worry | |
| 7. adj. Of significant importance or consequence; important. | |
| a great decision | |
| 8. adj. (applied to actions, thoughts and feelings) Arising from or possessing idealism; admirable; superior; commanding; heroic; illustrious; eminent. | |
| a great deed | |
| a great nature | |
| a great history | |
| 9. adj. Impressive or striking. | |
| a great show of wealth | |
| 10. adj. Much in use; favoured. | |
| Poetry was a great convention of the Romantic era. | |
| 11. adj. (applied to persons) Endowed with extraordinary powers; of exceptional talents or achievements; uncommonly gifted; able to accomplish vast results; remarkable; strong; powerful; mighty; noble. | |
| a great hero, scholar, genius, philosopher, writer etc. | |
| 12. adj. Title referring to an important leader. | |
| Alexander the Great | |
| 13. adj. Doing or exemplifying (a characteristic or pursuit) on a large scale; active or enthusiastic. | |
| What a great buffoon! | |
| He's not a great one for reading. | |
| a great walker | |
| 14. adj. (often followed by 'at') Skilful or adroit. | |
| a great carpenter | |
| You are great at singing. | |
| 15. adj. (informal) Very good; excellent; wonderful; fantastic (from 1848). | |
| Dinner was great. | |
| 16. adj. (informal, British) Intensifying a word or expression, used in mild oaths. | |
| a dirty great smack in the face | |
| Great Scott! | |
| 17. interj. Expression of gladness and content about something. | |
| Great! Thanks for the wonderful work. | |
| 18. interj. sarcastic inversion thereof. | |
| Oh, great! I just dumped all 500 sheets of the manuscript all over and now I have to put them back in order. | |
| 19. n. A person of major significance, accomplishment or acclaim. | |
| Newton and Einstein are two of the greats of the history of science. | |
| 20. n. (music) The main division in a pipe organ, usually the loudest division. | |
| 21. adv. very well (in a very satisfactory manner) | |
| Those mechanical colored pencils work great because they don't have to be sharpened. | |
| amount |
| 1. n. The total, aggregate or sum of material (not applicable to discrete numbers or units or items in standard English). | |
| The amount of atmospheric pollution threatens a health crisis. | |
| 2. n. A quantity or volume. | |
| Pour a small amount of water into the dish. | |
| The dogs need different amounts of food. | |
| 3. n. (nonstandard, sometimes proscribed) The number (the sum) of elements in a set. | |
| 4. v. (intransitive, followed by to) To total or evaluate. | |
| It amounts to three dollars and change. | |
| 5. v. (intransitive, followed by to) To be the same as or equivalent to. | |
| He was a pretty good student, but never amounted to much professionally. | |
| His response amounted to gross insubordination | |
| 6. v. (obsolete, intransitive) To go up; to ascend. | |
| or |
| 1. conj. Connects at least two alternative words, phrases, clauses, sentences, etc. each of which could make a passage true. In English, this is the "inclusive or." The "exclusive or" is formed by "either(...) | |
| In Ohio, anyone under the age of 18 who wants a tattoo or body piercing needs the consent of a parent or guardian. | |
| He might get cancer, or be hit by a bus, or God knows what. | |
| 2. conj. (logic) An operator denoting the disjunction of two propositions or truth values. There are two forms, the inclusive or and the exclusive or. | |
| 3. conj. Counts the elements before and after as two possibilities. | |
| 4. conj. Otherwise (a consequence of the condition that the previous is false). | |
| It's raining! Come inside or you'll catch a cold! | |
| 5. conj. Connects two equivalent names. | |
| The country Myanmar, or Burma | |
| 6. n. (logic, electronics) alternative form of OR | |
| 7. n. (tincture) The gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms. | |
| 8. adj. (tincture) Of gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms. | |
| 9. adv. (obsolete) Early (on). | |
| 10. adv. (obsolete) Earlier, previously. | |
| 11. prep. (now archaic, or dialect) Before; ere. | |
| number |
| 1. n. An abstract entity used to describe quantity. | |
| Zero, one, -1, 2.5, and pi are all numbers. | |
| 2. n. A numeral: a symbol for a non-negative integer. | |
| The number 8 is usually made with a single stroke. | |
| 3. n. (mathematics) A member of one of several classes: natural numbers, integers, rational numbers, real numbers, complex numbers, quaternions. | |
| The equatione^i\pi+1=0 includes the most important numbers: 1, 0,\pi,i, ande. | |
| 4. n. (Followed by a numeral; used attributively) Indicating the position of something in a list or sequence. Abbreviations: No or No., no or no. (in each case, sometimes written with a superscript "o", lik | |
| Horse number 5 won the race. | |
| 5. n. Quantity. | |
| Any number of people can be reading from a given repository at a time. | |
| 6. n. A sequence of digits and letters used to register people, automobiles, and various other items. | |
| Her passport number is C01X864TN. | |
| 7. n. (informal) A telephone number. | |
| 8. n. (grammar) Of a word or phrase, the state of being singular, dual or plural, shown by inflection. | |
| Adjectives and nouns should agree in gender, number, and case. | |
| 9. n. (now rare, in the plural) Poetic metres; verses, rhymes. | |
| 10. n. A performance; especially, a single song or song and dance routine within a larger show. | |
| For his second number, he sang "The Moon Shines Bright". | |
| 11. n. (informal) A person. | |
| 12. n. (informal) An item of clothing, particularly a stylish one. | |
| 13. n. (slang) A marijuana cigarette, or joint; also, a quantity of marijuana bought form a dealer. | |
| 14. n. (dated) An issue of a periodical publication. | |
| the latest number of a magazine | |
| 15. v. To label (items) with numbers; to assign numbers to (items). | |
| Number the baskets so that we can find them easily. | |
| 16. v. (intransitive) To total or count; to amount to. | |
| I don’t know how many books are in the library, but they must number in the thousands. | |
| 17. adj. comparative form of numb: more numb | |
| often |
| 1. adv. Frequently, many times. | |
| I often walk to work when the weather is nice. | |
| I've been going to the movies more often since a new theatre opened near me. | |
| 2. adj. (archaic) Frequent. | |
| of |
| 1. prep. Expressing distance or motion. | |
| 2. prep. (now obsolete, or dialectal) From (of distance, direction), "off". | |
| 3. prep. (obsolete except in phrases) Since, from (a given time, earlier state etc.). | |
| 4. prep. From, away from (a position, number, distance etc.). | |
| There are no shops within twenty miles of the cottage. | |
| 5. prep. (North America, Scotland, Ireland) Before (the hour); to. | |
| What's the time? / Nearly a quarter of three. | |
| 6. prep. Expressing separation. | |
| 7. prep. (Indicating removal, absence or separation, with the action indicated by a transitive verb and the quality or substance by a grammatical object.) | |
| Finally she was relieved of the burden of caring for her sick husband. | |
| 8. prep. (Indicating removal, absence or separation, with resulting state indicated by an adjective.) | |
| He seemed devoid of human feelings. | |
| 9. prep. (obsolete) (Indicating removal, absence or separation, construed with an intransitive verb.) | |
| 10. prep. Expressing origin. | |
| 11. prep. (Indicating an ancestral source or origin of descent.) | |
| The word is believed to be of Japanese origin. | |
| 12. prep. (Indicating a (non-physical) source of action or emotion; introducing a cause, instigation); from, out of, as an expression of. | |
| The invention was born of necessity. | |
| 13. prep. (following an intransitive verb) (Indicates the source or cause of the verb.) | |
| It is said that she died of a broken heart. | |
| 14. prep. (following an adjective) (Indicates the subject or cause of the adjective.) | |
| I am tired of all this nonsense. | |
| 15. prep. Expressing agency. | |
| 16. prep. (following a passive verb) (Indicates the agent (for most verbs, now usually expressed with by).) | |
| I am not particularly enamoured of this idea. | |
| 17. prep. (Used to introduce the "subjective genitive"; following a noun to form the head of a postmodifying noun phrase) (see also 'Possession' senses below). | |
| The contract can be terminated at any time with the agreement of both parties. | |
| 18. prep. (following an adjective) (Used to indicate the agent of something described by the adjective.) | |
| It was very brave of you to speak out like that. | |
| 19. prep. Expressing composition, substance. | |
| 20. prep. (after a verb expressing construction, making etc.) (Used to indicate the material or substance used.) | |
| Many 'corks' are now actually made of plastic. | |
| 21. prep. (directly following a noun) (Used to indicate the material of the just-mentioned object.) | |
| She wore a dress of silk. | |
| 22. prep. (Indicating the composition of a given collective or quantitative noun.) | |
| What a lot of nonsense! | |
| 23. prep. (Used to link a given class of things with a specific example of that class.) | |
| Welcome to the historic town of Harwich. | |
| 24. prep. (Links two nouns in near-apposition, with the first qualifying the second); "which is also". | |
| I'm not driving this wreck of a car. | |
| 25. prep. Introducing subject matter. | |
| 26. prep. (Links an intransitive verb, or a transitive verb and its subject (especially verbs to do with thinking, feeling, expressing etc.), with its subject-ma | |
| I'm always thinking of you. | |
| 27. prep. (following a noun (now chiefly nouns of knowledge, communication etc.)) (Introduces its subject matter); about, concerning. | |
| He told us the story of his journey to India. | |
| 28. prep. (following an adjective) (Introduces its subject matter.) | |
| This behaviour is typical of teenagers. | |
| 29. prep. Having partitive effect. | |
| 30. prep. (following a number or other quantitive word) (Introduces the whole for which is indicated only the specified part or segment); "from among". | |
| Most of these apples are rotten. | |
| 31. prep. (following a noun) (Indicates a given part.) | |
| 32. prep. (now archaic, literary, with preceding partitive word assumed, or as a predicate after to be) Some, an amount of, one of. | |
| On the whole, they seem to be of the decent sort. | |
| 33. prep. (Links to a genitive noun or possessive pronoun, with partitive effect (though now often merged with possessive senses, below).) | |
| He is a friend of mine. | |
| 34. prep. Expressing possession. | |
| 35. prep. Belonging to, existing in, or taking place in a given location, place or time. Compare "origin" senses, above. | |
| He was perhaps the most famous scientist of the twentieth century. | |
| 36. prep. Belonging to (a place) through having title, ownership or control over it. | |
| The owner of the nightclub was arrested. | |
| 37. prep. Belonging to (someone or something) as something they possess or have as a characteristic; (the "possessive genitive". (With abstract nouns, this inter | |
| Keep the handle of the saucepan away from the flames. | |
| 38. prep. Forming the "objective genitive". | |
| 39. prep. (Follows an agent noun, verbal noun or noun of action.) | |
| She had a profound distrust of the police. | |
| 40. prep. Expressing qualities or characteristics. | |
| 41. prep. (now archaic, or literary) (Links an adjective with a noun or noun phrase to form a quasi-adverbial qualifier); in respect to, as regards. | |
| My companion seemed affable and easy of manner. | |
| 42. prep. (Indicates a quality or characteristic); "characterized by". | |
| Pooh was said to be a bear of very little brain. | |
| 43. prep. (Indicates quantity, age, price, etc.) | |
| We have been paying interest at a rate of 10%. | |
| 44. prep. (US, informal considered incorrect by some) (Used to link singular indefinite nouns (preceded by the indefinite article) and attributive adjectives mod | |
| It's not that big of a deal. | |
| 45. prep. Expressing a point in time. | |
| 46. prep. (chiefly regional) During the course of (a set period of time, day of the week etc.), now specifically with implied repetition or regularity. | |
| Of an evening, we would often go for a stroll along the river. | |
| 47. prep. (UK dialectal, chiefly in negative constructions) For (a given length of time). | |
| I've not tekken her out of a goodly long while. | |
| 48. prep. (after a noun) (Indicates duration of a state, activity etc.) | |
| After a delay of three hours, the plane finally took off. | |
| people |
| 1. n. Used as plural of person; a body of human beings considered generally or collectively; a group of two or more persons. | |
| Why do so many people commit suicide? | |
| 2. n. Persons forming or belonging to a particular group, such as a nation, class, ethnic group, country, family, etc; folk; a community. | |
| 3. n. A group of persons regarded as being employees, followers, companions or subjects of a ruler. | |
| 4. n. One's colleagues or employees. | |
| 5. n. A person's ancestors, relatives or family. | |
| My people lived through the Black Plague and the Thirty Years War. | |
| 6. n. The mass of a community as distinguished from a special class (elite); the commonalty; the populace; the vulgar; the common crowd; the citizens. | |
| 7. n. plural of person. | |
| 8. v. To stock with people or inhabitants; to fill as with people; to populate. | |
| 9. v. (intransitive) To become populous or populated. | |
| 10. v. To inhabit; to occupy; to populate. | |
| myriad |
| 1. n. (now historical) Ten thousand; 10,000 | |
| 2. n. A countless number or multitude (of specified things) | |
| Earth hosts a myriad of animals. | |
| 3. adj. (modifying a singular noun) Multifaceted, having innumerable elements | |
| 4. adj. (modifying a plural noun) Great in number; innumerable, multitudinous | |
| Earth hosts myriad animals. | |
| profusion |
| 1. n. abundance; the state of being profuse; a cornucopia | |
| His hair, in great profusion, streamed down over his shoulders. | |
| 2. n. lavish or imprudent expenditure; prodigality or extravagance | |
| abundance |
| 1. n. A large quantity; many. | |
| 2. n. An overflowing fullness or ample sufficiency; profusion; copious supply; superfluity; plentifulness. | |
| 3. n. Wealth; affluence; plentiful amount of resources. | |
| 4. n. Frequency, amount, ratio of something within a given environment or sample. | |
| 5. n. (card games) A bid to take nine or more tricks in solo whist. | |
