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 | |
take |
1. v. To get into one's hands, possession or control, with or without force. | |
They took Charlton's gun from his cold, dead hands. | |
I'll take that plate off the table. | |
2. v. To seize or capture. | |
take the guards prisoner | |
take prisoners | |
After a bloody battle, they were able to take the city. | |
3. v. To catch or get possession of (fish or game). | |
took ten catfish in one afternoon | |
4. v. (transitive, cricket) To catch the ball; especially as a wicket-keeper and after the batsman has missed or edged it. | |
5. v. To appropriate or transfer into one's own possession, sometimes by physically carrying off. | |
Billy took her pencil. | |
6. v. To exact. | |
take a toll | |
take revenge | |
7. v. To capture or win (a piece or trick) in a game. | |
took the next two tricks | |
took Smith's rook | |
8. v. To receive or accept (something) (especially something given or bestowed, awarded, etc). | |
took third place | |
took bribes | |
The camera takes 35mm film. | |
9. v. To receive or accept (something) as payment or compensation. | |
The store doesn't take checks. | |
She wouldn't take any money for her help. | |
Do you take credit? | |
The vending machine only takes bills, it doesn't take coins. | |
10. v. To accept and follow (advice, etc). | |
take my advice | |
11. v. To receive into some relationship. | |
take a wife | |
The school only takes new students in the fall. | |
The therapist wouldn't take him as a client. | |
12. v. (transitive, intransitive, legal) To receive or acquire (property) by law (e.g. as an heir). | |
13. v. To remove. | |
take two eggs from the carton | |
14. v. To remove or end by death; to kill. | |
The earthquake took many lives. | |
The plague took rich and poor alike. | |
Cancer took her life. | |
He took his life last night. | |
15. v. To subtract. | |
take one from three and you are left with two | |
16. v. To have sex with. | |
17. v. To defeat (someone or something) in a fight. | |
Don't try to take that guy. He's bigger than you. | |
The woman guarding us looks like a professional, but I can take her! | |
18. v. To grasp or grip. | |
He took her hand in his. | |
19. v. To select or choose; to pick. | |
Take whichever bag you like. | |
She took the best men with her and left the rest to garrison the city. | |
I'll take the blue plates. | |
I'll take two sugars in my coffee, please. | |
20. v. To adopt (select) as one's own. | |
She took his side in every argument. | |
take a stand on the important issues | |
21. v. To carry or lead (something or someone). | |
She took her sword with her everywhere she went. | |
I'll take the plate with me. | |
22. v. (transitive, especially of a vehicle) To transport or carry; to convey to another place. | |
The next bus will take you to Metz. | |
I took him for a ride | |
I took him down to London. | |
23. v. (transitive, of a path, road, etc.) To lead (to a place); to serve as a means of reaching. | |
These stairs take you down to the basement. | |
Stone Street took us right past the store. | |
24. v. To pass (or attempt to pass) through or around. | |
She took the steps two or three at a time/ | |
He took the curve / corner too fast. | |
The pony took every hedge and fence in its path. | |
25. v. To escort or conduct (a person). | |
He took her to lunch at the new restaurant, took her to the movies, and then took her home. | |
26. v. (reflexive) To go. | |
27. v. To use as a means of transportation. | |
take the ferry | |
I took a plane. | |
He took the bus to London, and then took a train to Manchester. | |
He's 96 but he still takes the stairs. | |
28. v. (obsolete) To visit; to include in a course of travel. | |
29. v. To obtain for use by payment or lease. | |
She took a condo at the beach for the summer. | |
He took a full-page ad in the Times. | |
30. v. To obtain or receive regularly by (paid) subscription. | |
They took two magazines. | |
I used to take The Sunday Times. | |
31. v. To consume. | |
32. v. To receive (medicine) into one's body, e.g. by inhalation or swallowing; to ingest. | |
take two of these and call me in the morning | |
take the blue pill | |
I take aspirin every day to thin my blood. | |
33. v. To partake of (food or drink); to consume. | |
The general took dinner at seven o'clock. | |
34. v. To experience, undergo, or endure. | |
35. v. To undergo; to put oneself into, to be subjected to. | |
take sun-baths | |
take a shower | |
She made the decision to take chemotherapy. | |
36. v. To experience or feel. | |
She takes pride in her work. | |
the |
1. art. Definite grammatical article that implies necessarily that an entity it articulates is presupposed; something already mentioned, or completely specified later in that same sentence, or assumed already | |
I’m reading the book. (Compare I’m reading a book.) | |
The street in front of your house. (Compare A street in Paris.) | |
The men and women watched the man give the birdseed to the bird. | |
2. art. Used before a noun modified by a restrictive relative clause, indicating that the noun refers to a single referent defined by the relative clause. | |
The street that runs through my hometown. | |
3. art. Used before an object considered to be unique, or of which there is only one at a time. | |
No one knows how many galaxies there are in the universe. | |
God save the Queen! | |
4. art. Used before a superlative or an ordinal number modifying a noun, to indicate that the noun refers to a single item. | |
That was the best apple pie ever. | |
5. art. Added to a superlative or an ordinal number to make it into a substantive. | |
That apple pie was the best. | |
6. art. Introducing a singular term to be taken generically: preceding a name of something standing for a whole class. | |
7. art. Used before an adjective, indicating all things (especially persons) described by that adjective. | |
Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable. | |
8. art. Used to indicate a certain example of (a noun) which is usually of most concern or most common or familiar. | |
No one in the whole country had seen it before. | |
I don't think I'll get to it until the morning. | |
9. art. Used before a body part (especially of someone previously mentioned), as an alternative to a possessive pronoun. | |
A stone hit him on the head. (= “A stone hit him on his head.”) | |
10. art. When stressed, indicates that it describes an object which is considered to be best or exclusively worthy of attention. | |
That is the hospital to go to for heart surgery. | |
11. adv. 1=With a comparative ormore and a verb phrase, establishes a parallel with one or more other such comparatives. | |
The hotter the better. | |
The more I think about it, the weaker it looks. | |
The more money donated, the more books purchased, and the more happy children. | |
It looks weaker and weaker, the more I think about it. | |
12. adv. 1=With a comparative, and often withfor it, indicates a result more like said comparative. This can be negated withnone. | |
It was a difficult time, but I’m the wiser for it. | |
It was a difficult time, and I’m none the wiser for it. | |
I'm much the wiser for having had a difficult time like that. | |
dressing |
1. n. (medicine) Material applied to a wound for protection or therapy. | |
2. n. A sauce, especially a cold one for salads. | |
3. n. Something added to the soil as a fertilizer etc. | |
4. n. The activity of getting dressed. | |
5. n. (obsolete) Dress; raiment; especially, ornamental habiliment or attire. | |
6. n. The stuffing of fowls, pigs, etc.; forcemeat. | |
7. n. Gum, starch, etc., used in stiffening or finishing silk, linen, and other fabrics. | |
8. n. An ornamental finish, such as a moulding around doors, windows, or on a ceiling. | |
9. n. (dated) Castigation; scolding; dressing down. | |
10. n. (dated) the process of extracting metals or other valuable components from minerals | |
11. v. present participle of dress | |
dress |
1. n. An item of clothing (usually worn by a woman or young girl) which both covers the upper part of the body and includes skirts below the waist. | |
Amy and Mary looked very pretty in their dresses. | |
2. n. Apparel, clothing. | |
He came to the party in formal dress. | |
3. n. The system of furrows on the face of a millstone. | |
4. n. A dress rehearsal. | |
5. v. (obsolete, reflexive, intransitive) To prepare oneself; to make ready. | |
6. v. To adorn, ornament. | |
It was time to dress the windows for Christmas again. | |
7. v. (nautical) To ornament (a ship) by hoisting the national colours at the peak and mastheads, and setting the jack forward; when "dressed full", the signal flags and pennants are added. | |
8. v. To treat (a wound, or wounded person). | |
9. v. To prepare (food) for cooking, especially by seasoning it. | |
10. v. To fit out with the necessary clothing; to clothe, put clothes on (something or someone). | |
He was dressed in the latest fashions. | |
11. v. (intransitive) To clothe oneself; to put on clothes. | |
I rose and dressed before daybreak. It's very cold out. Dress warm. | |
12. v. (sports) To put on the uniform and equipment necessary to play the game. | |
Due to a left ankle sprain, Kobe Bryant did not dress for the game against Indiana | |
13. v. (intransitive) Of a man, to allow the genitals to fall to one side or other within the trousers. | |
Does sir dress to the right or the left? | |
14. v. To prepare for use; to fit for any use; to render suitable for an intended purpose; to get ready. | |
to dress leather or cloth; to dress a garden; to dress grain, by cleansing it; in mining and metallurgy, to dress ores, by sorting and separating them | |
15. v. To prepare the surface of (a material; usually stone or lumber). | |
16. v. To bolt or sift flour. | |
17. v. (military, ambitransitive) To arrange in exact continuity of line, as soldiers; commonly to adjust to a straight line and at proper distance; to align. Sometimes an imperative command. | |
to dress the ranks | |
Right, dress! | |
18. v. To break and train for use, as a horse or other animal. | |
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. | |
covering |
1. n. That which covers something. | |
2. n. Action of the verb to cover. | |
3. v. present participle of cover | |
cover |
1. n. A lid. | |
2. n. Area or situation which screens a person or thing from view. | |
We didn't see John because he had taken cover behind the wing chair. | |
3. n. The front and back of a book, magazine, CD package, etc. | |
4. n. The top sheet of a bed. | |
5. n. A cloth, usually fitted, placed over an item such as a car or sofa to protect it from dust, rain, etc. when not in use. | |
6. n. A cover charge. | |
There's a $15 cover tonight. | |
7. n. A setting at a restaurant table or formal dinner. | |
We need to set another cover for the Smith party. | |
8. n. (music) A rerecording of a previously recorded song; a cover version; a cover song. | |
9. n. (cricket) A fielding position on the off side, between point and mid off, about 30° forward of square; a fielder in this position. | |
10. n. (topology) A set (more often known as a family) of sets, whose union contains the given set. | |
The open intervals are a cover for the real numbers. | |
11. n. (philately) An envelope complete with stamps and postmarks etc. | |
12. n. (military) A solid object, including terrain, that provides protection from enemy fire. | |
13. n. (legal) In commercial law, a buyer’s purchase on the open market of goods similar or identical to the goods contracted for after a seller has breached a contract of sale by failure to deliver the good | |
14. n. (insurance) An insurance contract; coverage by an insurance contract. | |
15. n. (espionage) A persona maintained by a spy or undercover operative, cover story | |
16. n. The portion of a slate, tile, or shingle that is hidden by the overlap of the course above. | |
17. n. In a steam engine, the lap of a slide valve. | |
18. n. (construction) The distance between reinforcing steel and the exterior of concrete. | |
19. adj. Of or pertaining to the front cover of a book or magazine. | |
20. adj. (music) Of, pertaining to, or consisting of cover versions. | |
21. v. To place something over or upon, as to conceal or protect. | |
He covered the baby with a blanket. | |
When the pot comes to a boil, cover it and reduce the heat to medium. | |
22. v. To be over or upon, as to conceal or protect. | |
The blanket covered the baby. | |
23. v. To be upon all of, so as to completely conceal. | |
Regular hexagons can cover the plane. | |
24. v. To set upon all of, so as to completely conceal. | |
You can cover the plane with regular hexagons. | |
25. v. To invest (oneself with something); to bring upon (oneself). | |
The heroic soldier covered himself with glory. | |
26. v. (of a publication) To discuss thoroughly; to provide coverage of. | |
The magazine covers such diverse topics as politics, news from the world of science, and the economy. | |
27. v. To deal with or include someone or something. | |
28. v. To be enough money for. | |
We've earned enough to cover most of our costs. | |
Ten dollars should cover lunch. | |
29. v. (intransitive) To act as a replacement. | |
I need to take off Tuesday. Can you cover for me? | |
30. v. To have as an assignment or responsibility. | |
Can you cover the morning shift tomorrow? I'll give you off next Monday instead. | |
He is our salesman covering companies with headquarters in the northern provinces. | |
31. v. (music) To make a cover version of (a song that was originally recorded by another artist). | |
32. v. (military, law enforcement) To protect using an aimed firearm and the threat of firing; or to protect using continuous, heaving fire at or in the direction of the enemy so as to force the enemy to rem | |
33. v. To provide insurance coverage for. | |
Does my policy cover accidental loss? | |
34. v. To copulate with (said of certain male animals such as dogs and horses). | |
I would like to have my bitch covered next spring. | |
The stallion has not covered the mare yet. | |
35. v. (chess, transitive) To protect or control (a piece or square). | |
In order to checkmate a king on the side of the board, the five squares adjacent to the king must all be covered. | |
36. v. To extend over a given period of time or range, to occupy, to stretch over a given area. | |
37. v. (sports) To defend a particular player or area. | |
from |
1. prep. With the source or provenance of or at. | |
This wine comes from France. | |
I got a letter from my brother. | |
2. prep. With the origin, starting point or initial reference of or at. | |
He had books piled from floor to ceiling. | |
He left yesterday from Chicago. | |
Face away from the wall! | |
3. prep. (mathematics, now uncommon) Denoting a subtraction operation. | |
20 from 31 leaves 11. | |
4. prep. With the separation, exclusion or differentiation of. | |
An umbrella protects from the sun. | |
He knows right from wrong. | |