to |
1. part. A particle used for marking the following verb as an infinitive. | |
I want to leave. | |
He asked me what to do. | |
I don’t know how to say it. | |
I have places to go and people to see. | |
2. part. As above, with the verb implied. | |
"Did you visit the museum?" "I wanted to, but it was closed.". | |
If he hasn't read it yet, he ought to. | |
3. part. A particle used to create phrasal verbs. | |
I have to do laundry today. | |
4. prep. Indicating destination: In the direction of, and arriving at. | |
We are walking to the shop. | |
5. prep. Used to indicate purpose. | |
He devoted himself to education. | |
They drank to his health. | |
6. prep. Used to indicate result of action. | |
His face was beaten to a pulp. | |
7. prep. Used after an adjective to indicate its application. | |
similar to ..., relevant to ..., pertinent to ..., I was nice to him, he was cruel to her, I am used to walking. | |
8. prep. (obsolete,) As a. | |
With God to friend (with God as a friend); with The Devil to fiend (with the Devil as a foe); lambs slaughtered to lake (lambs slaughtered as a sacrifice); t | |
9. prep. (arithmetic) Used to indicate a ratio or comparison. | |
one to one = 1:1 | |
ten to one = 10:1. | |
I have ten dollars to your four. | |
10. prep. (arithmetic) Used to indicate that the preceding term is to be raised to the power of the following value; indicates exponentiation. | |
Three squared or three to the second power is nine. | |
Three to the power of two is nine. | |
Three to the second is nine. | |
11. prep. Used to indicate the indirect object. | |
I gave the book to him. | |
12. prep. (time) Preceding. | |
ten to ten = 9:50; We're going to leave at ten to (the hour). | |
13. prep. Used to describe what something consists of or contains. | |
Anyone could do this job; there's nothing to it. | |
There's a lot of sense to what he says. | |
14. prep. (Canada, UK, Newfoundland, West Midlands) At. | |
Stay where you're to and I'll come find you, b'y. | |
15. adv. Toward a closed, touching or engaging position. | |
Please push the door to. | |
16. adv. (nautical) Into the wind. | |
17. adv. misspelling of too | |
destroy |
1. v. To damage beyond use or repair. | |
The earthquake destroyed several apartment complexes. | |
2. v. (intransitive) To cause destruction. | |
Hooligans destroy unprovoked. | |
3. v. To neutralize, undo a property or condition. | |
Smoking destroys the natural subtlety of the palate. | |
4. v. To put down or euthanize. | |
Destroying a rabid dog is required by law. | |
5. v. To severely disrupt the well-being of (a person); ruin. | |
Her divorce destroyed her; she had a nervous breakdown and was severely depressed for more than a year. | |
6. v. (colloquial, transitive) To defeat soundly. | |
7. v. (computing, transitive) To remove data. | |
The memory leak happened because we forgot to destroy the temporary lists. | |
8. v. (US, colloquial slang) To sing a song poorly. | |
especially |
1. adv. (manner) In a special manner; specially. | |
2. adv. (focus) Particularly; to a greater extent than is normal. | |
3. adv. (focus) Used to place greater emphasis upon someone or something. | |
Invite them all, especially Molly. | |
by |
1. prep. Near or next to. | |
The mailbox is by the bus stop. | |
2. prep. At some time before (the given time), or before the end of a given time interval. | |
Be back by ten o'clock! We will send it by the first week of July. | |
3. prep. Indicates the actor in a clause with its verb in the passive voice: Through the action or presence of. | |
The matter was decided by the chairman. The boat was swamped by the water. He was protected by his body armour. | |
4. prep. Indicates the creator of a work: Existing through the authorship etc. of. | |
There are many well-known plays by William Shakespeare | |
5. prep. Indicates the cause of a condition or event: Through the action of, caused by, responsibility for; by dint of. | |
6. prep. Indicates a means: Involving/using the means of. | |
I avoided the guards by moving only when they weren't looking. | |
7. prep. Indicates a source of light used as illumination. | |
The electricity was cut off, so we had to read by candlelight. | |
8. prep. Indicates an authority, rule, or permission followed. | |
I sorted the items by category. By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife. | |
9. prep. Indicates the amount of some progression: With a change of. | |
Our stock is up by ten percent. | |
10. prep. In the formulae X by X and by Xs, indicates a steady progression, one X after another. | |
We went through the book page by page. We crawled forward by inches. | |
11. prep. Indicates a referenced source: According to. | |
He cheated by his own admission. | |
12. prep. Indicates an oath: With the authority of. | |
By Jove! I think she's got it! By all that is holy, I'll put an end to this. | |
13. prep. Used to separate dimensions when describing the size of something. | |
It is easy to invert a 2-by-2 matrix. The room was about 4 foot by 6 foot. The bricks used to build the wall measured 10 by 20 by 30 cm. | |
14. prep. (horse breeding) Designates a horse's male parent (sire); cf. out of. | |
She's a lovely little filly, by Big Lad, out of Damsel in Distress. | |
15. adv. Along a path which runs by the speaker. | |
I watched as it passed by. | |
16. adv. In the vicinity, near. | |
There was a shepherd close by. | |
The shop is hard by the High Street. | |
17. adv. To or at a place, as a residence or place of business. | |
I'll stop by on my way home from work. | |
We're right near the lifeguard station. Come by before you leave. | |
18. adv. Aside, away. | |
The women spent much time after harvest putting jams by for winter and spring. | |
19. adj. Out of the way, subsidiary. | |
20. n. (card games) A pass | |
21. interj. alternative spelling of bye | |
fire |
1. n. A (usually self-sustaining) chemical reaction involving the bonding of oxygen with carbon or other fuel, with the production of heat and the presence of flame or smouldering. | |
2. n. An instance of this chemical reaction, especially when intentionally created and maintained in a specific location to a useful end (such as a campfire or a hearth fire). | |
We sat about the fire singing songs and telling tales. | |
3. n. The occurrence, often accidental, of fire in a certain place, causing damage and danger. | |
There was a fire at the school last night and the whole place burned down. | |
During hot and dry summers many fires in forests are caused by regardlessly discarded cigarette butts. | |
4. n. (alchemy, philosophy) The aforementioned chemical reaction of burning, considered one of the Classical elements or basic elements of alchemy. | |
5. n. (British) A heater or stove used in place of a real fire (such as an electric fire). | |
6. n. The elements necessary to start a fire. | |
The fire was laid and needed to be lit. | |
7. n. The bullets or other projectiles fired from a gun. | |
The fire from the enemy guns kept us from attacking. | |
8. n. Strength of passion, whether love or hate. | |
9. n. Liveliness of imagination or fancy; intellectual and moral enthusiasm. | |
10. n. Splendour; brilliancy; lustre; hence, a star. | |
Press fire to fire the gun. | |
11. v. To set (something, often a building) on fire. | |
12. v. To heat as with fire, but without setting on fire, as ceramic, metal objects, etc. | |
If you fire the pottery at too high a temperature, it may crack. | |
They fire the wood to make it easier to put a point on the end. | |
13. v. To drive away by setting a fire. | |
14. v. To terminate the employment contract of (an employee), especially for cause (such as misconduct or poor performance). | |
15. v. To shoot (a gun or analogous device). | |
We will fire our guns at the enemy. | |
He fired his radar gun at passing cars. | |
16. v. (intransitive) To shoot a gun, cannon, or similar weapon. | |
Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes. | |
17. v. (transitive, sports) To shoot; to attempt to score a goal. | |
18. v. (intransitive, physiology) To cause an action potential in a cell. | |
When a neuron fires, it transmits information. | |
19. v. To forcibly direct (something). | |
He answered the questions the reporters fired at him. | |
20. v. (ambitransitive, computer sciences, software engineering) To initiate an event (by means of an event handler). | |
The event handler should only fire after all web page content has finished loading. | |
The queue fires a job whenever the thread pool is ready to handle it. | |
21. v. To inflame; to irritate, as the passions. | |
to fire the soul with anger, pride, or revenge | |
22. v. To animate; to give life or spirit to. | |
to fire the genius of a young man | |
23. v. To feed or serve the fire of. | |
to fire a boiler | |
24. v. To light up as if by fire; to illuminate. | |
25. v. (farriery) To cauterize. | |
26. v. (intransitive, dated) To catch fire; to be kindled. | |
27. v. (intransitive, dated) To be irritated or inflamed with passion. | |
28. adj. (slang) Amazing; excellent. | |
That shit is fire, yo! | |