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 | |
extension |
1. n. The act of extending; a stretching out; enlargement in length or breadth; an increase | |
2. n. The state of being extended | |
3. n. That property of a body by which it occupies a portion of space (or time, e.g. "spatiotemporal extension") | |
4. n. A part of a building that has been extended from the original | |
5. n. (semantics) Capacity of a concept or general term to include a greater or smaller number of objects; — correlative of intension. | |
6. n. (banking, finance) A written engagement on the part of a creditor, allowing a debtor further time to pay a debt. | |
7. n. (medicine) The operation of stretching a broken bone so as to bring the fragments into the same straight line. | |
8. n. (weightlifting) An exercise in which an arm or leg is straightened against resistance. | |
9. n. (fencing) A simple offensive action, consisting of extending the weapon arm forward. | |
10. n. (telecommunication) A numerical code used to specify a specific telephone in a telecommunication network. | |
11. n. (computing) A file extension. | |
Files with the .txt extension usually contain text. | |
12. n. (computing) An optional software component that adds functionality to an application. | |
a browser extension | |
13. n. (logic) The set of tuples of values that, used as arguments, satisfy the predicate. | |
14. n. (grammar) A kind of derivative morpheme applied to verbs in Bantu languages. | |
any |
1. adv. To even the slightest extent, at all. | |
I will not remain here any longer. | |
If you get any taller, you'll start having to duck through doorways! | |
2. det. At least one; of at least one kind. One at all. | |
do you have any biscuits?; do you have any food?; I haven't got any money; it won't do you any good | |
3. det. No matter what kind. | |
choose any items you want; any person may apply | |
4. pron. Any thing(s) or person(s). | |
Any may apply. | |
oppressive |
1. adj. Burdensome or difficult to bear. | |
The oppressive tax laws made it difficult to start a small company. | |
2. adj. Tyrannical or exercising unjust power. | |
The oppressive land-owners kept a grip on the labourers. | |
3. adj. Weighing heavily on the spirit; intense, or overwhelming | |
Will the oppressive heat of summer never end? | |
4. adj. Hot and humid of the weather. | |
Thing |
1. n. (chiefly historical) A public assembly or judicial council in a Germanic country. | |
2. n. That which is considered to exist as a separate entity, object, quality or concept. | |
3. n. A word, symbol, sign, or other referent that can be used to refer to any entity. | |
4. n. An individual object or distinct entity. | |
5. n. (informal) Something that is existent or generally recognised. | |
Bacon pie? Is that a thing? | |
6. n. legal | |
7. n. Whatever can be owned. | |
8. n. Corporeal object. | |
9. n. (somewhat dated) The latest fad or fashion. | |
What do you mean you don't twerk, Stacy? It's the latest thing! | |
10. n. (in the plural) Clothes, possessions or equipment. | |
Hold on, let me just grab my things. | |
11. n. (informal) A unit or container, usually containing edible goods. | |
get me a thing of apple juice at the store; I just ate a whole thing of jelly beans | |
12. n. (informal) A problem, dilemma, or complicating factor. | |
The car looks cheap, but the thing is, I have doubts about its safety. | |
13. n. (slang) A penis. | |
14. n. A living being or creature. | |
you poor thing; she's a funny old thing, but her heart's in the right place; I met a pretty blond thing at the bar | |
15. n. That which matters; the crux. | |
that's the thing: we don't know where he went; the thing is, I don't have any money | |
16. n. Used after a noun to refer dismissively to the situation surrounding the noun's referent. | |
Oh yeah, I'm supposed to promote that vision thing. | |
17. n. (informal) That which is favoured; personal preference. (Used in possessive constructions.) | |
18. n. (chiefly historical) A public assembly or judicial council in a Germanic country. | |
19. v. (rare) To express as a thing; to reify. | |
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. | |
person |
1. n. An individual; usually a human being. | |
Each person is unique, both mentally and physically. | |
2. n. A character or part, as in a play; a specific kind or manifestation of individual character, whether in real life, or in literary or dramatic represent | |
3. n. (Christianity) Any one of the three hypostases of the Holy Trinity: the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit. | |
4. n. (chiefly in science fiction) Any sentient or socially intelligent being. | |
5. n. (in a compound noun or noun phrase) Someone who likes or has an affinity for (a specified thing). | |
Jack's always been a dog person, but I prefer cats. | |
6. n. The physical body of a being seen as distinct from the mind, character, etc. | |
7. n. (law) Any individual or formal organization with standing before the courts. | |
At common law a corporation or a trust is legally a person. | |
8. n. (law) The human genitalia; specifically, the penis. | |
9. n. (grammar) A linguistic category used to distinguish between the speaker of an utterance and those to whom or about whom he is speaking. See grammatical person. | |
10. n. (biology) A shoot or bud of a plant; a polyp or zooid of the compound Hydrozoa, Anthozoa, etc.; also, an individual, in the narrowest sense, among the higher animals. | |
11. v. (obsolete, transitive) To represent as a person; to personify; to impersonate. | |
12. v. (transitive, gender-neutral) To man. | |
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. | |
burden |
1. n. A heavy load. | |
2. n. A responsibility, onus. | |
3. n. A cause of worry; that which is grievous, wearisome, or oppressive. | |
4. n. The capacity of a vessel, or the weight of cargo that she will carry. | |
a ship of a hundred tons burden | |
5. n. (mining) The tops or heads of stream-work which lie over the stream of tin. | |
6. n. (metalworking) The proportion of ore and flux to fuel, in the charge of a blast furnace. | |
7. n. A fixed quantity of certain commodities. | |
A burden of gad steel is 120 pounds. | |
8. n. (obsolete, rare) A birth. | |
(...) that bore thee at a burden two fair sons. | |
9. n. (medicine) The total amount of toxins, parasites, cancer cells, plaque or similar present in an organism. | |
10. v. To encumber with a literal or figurative burden. | |
to burden a nation with taxes | |
11. v. To impose, as a load or burden; to lay or place as a burden (something heavy or objectionable). | |
12. n. (music) A phrase or theme that recurs at the end of each verse in a folk song or ballad. | |
13. n. The drone of a bagpipe. | |
14. n. (obsolete) Theme, core idea. | |