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. | |
temper |
1. n. A tendency to be in a certain type of mood; a habitual way of thinking, behaving or reacting. | |
to have a good, bad, or calm temper | |
2. n. State of mind; mood. | |
3. n. A tendency to become angry. | |
to have a hasty temper | |
He has quite a temper when dealing with salespeople. | |
4. n. Anger; a fit of anger. | |
an outburst of temper | |
5. n. Calmness of mind; moderation; equanimity; composure. | |
to keep one's temper; to lose one's temper; to recover one's temper | |
6. n. (obsolete) Constitution of body; the mixture or relative proportion of the four humours: blood, choler, phlegm, and melancholy. | |
7. n. Middle state or course; mean; medium. | |
8. n. The state of any compound substance which results from the mixture of various ingredients; due mixture of different qualities. | |
the temper of mortar | |
9. n. The heat treatment to which a metal or other material has been subjected; a material that has undergone a particular heat treatment. | |
10. n. The state of a metal or other substance, especially as to its hardness, produced by some process of heating or cooling. | |
the temper of iron or steel | |
11. n. (sugar manufacture, historical) Milk of lime, or other substance, employed in the process formerly used to clarify sugar. | |
12. v. To moderate or control. | |
Temper your language around children. | |
13. v. To strengthen or toughen a material, especially metal, by heat treatment; anneal. | |
Tempering is a heat treatment technique applied to metals, alloys, and glass to achieve greater toughness by increasing the strength of materials and/or ductility. Tempering is performed by a c | |
14. v. To sauté spices in ghee or oil to release essential oils for flavouring a dish in South Asian cuisine. | |
15. v. To mix clay, plaster or mortar with water to obtain the proper consistency. | |
16. v. (music) To adjust, as the mathematical scale to the actual scale, or to that in actual use. | |
17. v. (obsolete, Latinism) To govern; to manage. | |
18. v. (archaic) To combine in due proportions; to constitute; to compose. | |
19. v. (archaic) To mingle in due proportion; to prepare by combining; to modify, as by adding some new element; to qualify, as by an ingredient; hence, to soften; to mollify; to assuage. | |
20. v. (obsolete) To fit together; to adjust; to accommodate. | |
character |
1. n. A being involved in the action of a story. | |
2. n. A distinguishing feature; characteristic; trait; phene. | |
(genetics) A single locus governing the petal colour character was detected on the linkage group A2. | |
3. n. A complex of mental and ethical traits marking a person or a group. | |
A study of the suspect's character and his cast iron alibi ruled him out. | |
4. n. Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality; moral strength. | |
He has a great deal of character. | |
"You may not like to eat liver," said Calvin's father, "but it builds character.". | |
5. n. A unique or extraordinary individual; a person characterized by peculiar or notable traits, especially charisma. | |
Julius Caesar is a great historical character. | |
That bloke is such a character. | |
6. n. A written or printed symbol, or letter. | |
7. n. (dated) Style of writing or printing; handwriting; the particular form of letters used by a person or people. | |
an inscription in the Runic character | |
8. n. (dated) A secret cipher; a way of writing in code. | |
9. n. (computing) One of the basic elements making up a text file or string: a code representing a printing character or a control character. | |
10. n. (informal) A person or individual, especially one who is unknown or raises suspicions. | |
We saw a shady character slinking out of the office with some papers. | |
11. n. (mathematics) A complex number representing an element of a finite Abelian group. | |
12. n. Quality, position, rank, or capacity; quality or conduct with respect to a certain office or duty. | |
in the miserable character of a slave | |
in his character as a magistrate | |
13. n. (dated) The estimate, individual or general, put upon a person or thing; reputation. | |
a man's character for truth and veracity | |
Her actions give her a bad character. | |
14. n. (dated) A reference given to a servant, attesting to his/her behaviour, competence, etc. | |
15. v. (obsolete) To write (using characters); to describe. | |
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. | |
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. | |
harsh |
1. adj. Unpleasantly rough to the touch or other senses. | |
2. adj. Severe or cruel. | |
3. v. (intransitive, slang) To negatively criticize. | |
Quit harshing me already, I said that I was sorry! | |
4. v. (transitive, slang) to put a damper on (a mood). | |
Dude, you're harshing my buzz. | |
austere |
1. adj. Grim or severe in manner or appearance | |
The headmistress was an austere old woman. | |
2. adj. Lacking trivial decoration; not extravagant or gaudy | |
The interior of the church was as austere as the parishioners were dour. | |
hard |
1. adj. (of material or fluid) Having a severe property; presenting difficulty. | |
2. adj. Resistant to pressure. | |
This bread is so stale and hard, I can barely cut it. | |
3. adj. (of drink or drugs) Strong. | |
4. adj. (of water) High in dissolved chemical salts, especially those of calcium. | |
5. adj. (physics, of a ferromagnetic material) Having the capability of being a permanent magnet by being a material with high magnetic coercivity (compare sof | |
6. adj. (personal or social) Having a severe property; presenting difficulty. | |
7. adj. Requiring a lot of effort to do or understand. | |
a hard problem | |
8. adj. Demanding a lot of effort to endure. | |
a hard life | |
9. adj. Severe, harsh, unfriendly, brutal. | |
a hard master; a hard heart; hard words; a hard character | |
don't be so hard on yourself | |
10. adj. (dated) Difficult to resist or control; powerful. | |
11. adj. Unquestionable. | |
hard evidence | |
12. adj. (of a road intersection) Having a comparatively larger or a ninety-degree angle. | |
At the intersection, there are two roads going to the left. Take the hard left. | |
13. adj. (slang) Sexually aroused. | |
I got so hard watching two hot guys wrestle each other on the beach. | |
14. adj. (bodybuilding) Having muscles that are tightened as a result of intense, regular exercise. | |
15. adj. phonetics, uncomparable | |
16. adj. Plosive. | |
There is a hard c in "clock" and a soft c in "centre". | |
17. adj. Unvoiced | |
Hard k, t, s, ch, as distinguished from soft, g, d, z, j. | |
18. adj. Velarized or plain, rather than palatalized | |
The letter m - ru in Russian is always hard. | |
19. adj. (arts) Having a severe property; presenting a barrier to enjoyment. | |
20. adj. Rigid in the drawing or distribution of the figures; formal; lacking grace of composition. | |
21. adj. Having disagreeable and abrupt contrasts in colour or shading. | |
22. adj. (uncomparable) In the form of a hard copy. | |
We need both a digital archive and a hard archive. | |
23. adv. (manner) With much force or effort. | |
He hit the puck hard up the ice. | |
They worked hard all week. | |
At the intersection, bear hard left. | |
The recession hit them especially hard. | |
Think hard about your choices. | |
24. adv. (manner) With difficulty. | |
His degree was hard earned. | |
The vehicle moves hard. | |
25. adv. (obsolete) So as to raise difficulties. | |
26. adv. (manner) Compactly. | |
The lake had finally frozen hard. | |
27. adv. (now archaic) Near, close. | |
28. n. (nautical) A firm or paved beach or slope convenient for hauling vessels out of the water. | |
29. n. (drugs, colloquial, slang) crack cocaine. | |
30. n. (motorsports) (ellipsis of hard tyre) (A tyre whose compound is softer than superhards, and harder than mediums.) | |
crabbed |
1. adj. Bad-tempered or cantankerous. | |
2. adj. Cramped, bent. | |
3. adj. (of handwriting) Crowded together and difficult to read. | |
4. v. simple past tense and past participle of crab | |
crab |
1. n. A crustacean of the infraorder Brachyura, having five pairs of legs, the foremost of which are in the form of claws, and a carapace. | |
2. n. The meat of this crustacean, served as food; crabmeat | |
3. n. A bad-tempered person. | |
4. n. (in plural crabs, informal) An infestation of pubic lice (Pthirus pubis). | |
Although crabs themselves are an easily treated inconvenience, the patient and his partner(s) clearly run major STD risks. | |
5. n. (slang) A playing card with the rank of three. | |
6. n. (rowing) A position in rowing where the oar is pushed under the rigger by the force of the water. | |
7. n. A defect in an outwardly normal object that may render it inconvenient and troublesome to use. | |
8. v. (intransitive) To fish for crabs. | |
9. v. (transitive, US, slang) To ruin. | |
10. v. (intransitive) To complain. | |
11. v. (intransitive) To drift or move sideways or to leeward (by analogy with the movement of a crab). | |
12. v. To navigate (an aircraft, e.g. a glider) sideways against an air current in order to maintain a straight-line course. | |
13. v. (obsolete, World War I), to fly slightly off the straight-line course towards an enemy aircraft, as the machine guns on early aircraft did not allow firing through the propeller disk. | |
14. v. (rare) To back out of something. | |
15. n. The crab apple or wild apple. | |
16. n. The tree bearing crab apples, which has a dogbane-like bitter bark with medical use. | |
17. n. A cudgel made of the wood of the crab tree; a crabstick. | |
18. n. A movable winch or windlass with powerful gearing, used with derricks, etc. | |
19. n. A form of windlass, or geared capstan, for hauling ships into dock, etc. | |
20. n. A machine used in ropewalks to stretch the yarn. | |
21. n. A claw for anchoring a portable machine. | |
22. v. (obsolete) To irritate, make surly or sour | |
23. v. To be ill-tempered; to complain or find fault. | |
24. v. (British dialect) To cudgel or beat, as with a crabstick | |
25. n. The tree species , native of South America. | |
26. n. Short for carabiner. | |