about |
1. prep. In a circle around; all round; on every side of; on the outside of. | |
2. prep. Near; not far from; approximately; regarding time, size, quantity. | |
3. prep. On the point or verge of. | |
the show is about to start; I am not about to admit to your crime | |
4. prep. On one's person; nearby the person. | |
5. prep. Over or upon different parts of; through or over in various directions; here and there in; to and fro in; throughout. | |
6. prep. Concerned with; engaged in; intent on. | |
7. prep. Concerning; with regard to; on account of; on the subject of; to affect. | |
He knew more about what was occurring than anyone. | |
8. prep. (figurative) In or near, as in mental faculties or (literally) in possession of; in control of; at one's command; in one's makeup. | |
He has his wits about him. | |
9. prep. In the immediate neighborhood of; in contiguity or proximity to; near, as to place. | |
10. adv. Not distant; approximate. | |
11. adv. On all sides; around. | |
12. adv. Here and there; around; in one place and another; up and down. | |
13. adv. Nearly; approximately; with close correspondence, in quality, manner, degree, quantity, or time; almost. | |
about as cold; about as high | |
14. adv. Near; in the vicinity. | |
15. adv. In succession; one after another; in the course of events. | |
16. adv. On the move; active; astir. | |
17. adv. To a reversed order; half round; facing in the opposite direction; from a contrary point of view. | |
to face about; to turn oneself about | |
18. adv. (nautical) To the opposite tack. | |
19. adv. (obsolete) Preparing; planning. | |
20. adv. (archaic) In circuit; circularly; by a circuitous way; around the outside; in circumference. | |
a mile about, and a third of a mile across | |
21. adv. (chiefly North America, colloquial) Going to; on the verge of; intending to. | |
22. adj. Moving around; astir. | |
out and about; up and about | |
After my bout with Guillan-Barre Syndrome, it took me 6 months to be up and about again. | |
23. adj. In existence; being in evidence; apparent | |
four |
1. num. (cardinal) A numerical value equal to 4; the number after three and before five; two plus two. This many dots (••••) | |
There are four seasons: winter, spring, summer and autumn. | |
2. num. Describing a set or group with four elements. | |
3. n. The digit or figure 4; an occurrence thereof. | |
4. n. Anything measuring four units, as length. | |
Do you have any more fours? I want to make this a little taller. | |
5. n. A person who is four years old. | |
I'll take the threes, fours and fives and go to the playground. | |
6. n. (cricket) An event whereby a batsman hits a ball which bounces on the ground before passing over a boundary in the air, resulting in an award of 4 runs for the batting team. If the ball does not bounc | |
7. n. (basketball) A power forward. | |
8. n. (rowing) Quadruple sculls. | |
9. n. (obsolete) A four-pennyworth of spirits. | |
years |
1. n. plural of year. | |
2. n. (colloquial, hyperbole) A very long time. | |
It took years for the bus to come. | |
year |
1. n. A solar year, the time it takes the Earth to complete one revolution of the Sun (between 365.24 and 365.26 days depending on the point of reference). | |
we moved to this town a year ago; I quit smoking exactly one year ago | |
2. n. (by extension) The time it takes for any astronomical object (such as a planet, dwarf planet, small Solar System body, or comet) in direct orbit around a star (such as the Sun) to make one revolution | |
Mars goes around the sun once in a Martian year, or 1.88 Earth years. | |
3. n. A period between set dates that mark a year, from January 1 to December 31 by the Gregorian calendar, from Tishiri 1 to Elul 29 by the Jewish calendar, and from Muharram 1 to Dhu al-Hijjah 29 or 30 by | |
A normal year has 365 full days, but there are 366 days in a leap year. | |
I was born in the year 1950. | |
This Chinese year is the year of the Rooster. | |
4. n. A scheduled part of a calendar year spent in a specific activity. | |
During this school year I have to get up at 6:30 to catch the bus. | |
5. n. (sciences) A Julian year, exactly 365.25 days, represented by "a". | |
6. n. A level or grade in school or college. | |
Every second-year student must select an area of specialization. | |
The exams in year 12 at high school are the most difficult. | |
7. n. The proportion of a creature's lifespan equivalent to one year of an average human lifespan (see also dog year). | |
Geneticists have created baker's yeast that can live to 800 in yeast years. | |
ago |
1. adj. (archaic, or dialectal) Gone; gone by; gone away; passed; passed away. | |
in days ago/in days agone | |
2. adj. (archaic, or dialectal) Nearly gone; dead (used in Devonshire at the turn of the 19th century) | |
Woe the day- she is agone! | |
3. adv. before | |
4. post. Before now. | |
I got married ten years ago. The last slice of cake was gone long ago. | |
while |
1. n. An uncertain duration of time, a period of time. | |
He lectured for quite a long while. | |
2. conj. During the same time that. | |
He was sleeping while I was singing. | |
3. conj. Although. | |
This case, while interesting, is a bit frustrating. | |
4. conj. (Northern England, Scotland) Until. | |
I'll wait while you've finished painting. | |
5. conj. As long as. | |
While you're at school you may live at home. | |
6. prep. (Northern England, Scotland) Until. | |
7. v. To pass (time) idly. | |
8. v. To loiter. | |
I |
1. pron. The speaker or writer, referred to as the grammatical subject, of a sentence. | |
(audio, Here I am, sir.ogg, Audio) | |
2. pron. (nonstandard, hypercorrection) The speaker or writer, referred to as the grammatical object, of a sentence. | |
3. n. (metaphysics) The ego. | |
4. n. (US, roadway) Interstate. | |
5. n. (grammar) (abbreviation of instrumental case) | |
6. pron. nonstandard spelling of I | |
was |
1. v. first-person singular past of be. | |
2. v. third-person singular past of be. | |
be |
1. v. (intransitive, now literary) To exist; to have real existence. | |
2. v. (with there, or dialectally it, as dummy subject) To exist. | |
There is just one woman in town who can help us. (or, dialectally:) It is just one woman in town who can help us. | |
3. v. (intransitive) To occupy a place. | |
The cup is on the table. | |
4. v. (intransitive) To occur, to take place. | |
When will the meeting be? | |
5. v. (intransitive, in perfect tenses, without predicate) Elliptical form of "be here", "go to and return from" or similar. | |
The postman has been today, but my tickets have still not yet come. | |
I have been to Spain many times. | |
Moscow, huh? I've never been, but it sounds fascinating. | |
6. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to indicate that the subject and object are the same. | |
Knowledge is bliss. | |
Hi, I’m Jim. | |
7. v. (transitive, copulative, mathematics) Used to indicate that the values on either side of an equation are the same. | |
3 times 5 is fifteen. | |
8. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to indicate that the subject plays the role of the predicate nominal. | |
François Mitterrand was president of France from 1981 to 1995. | |
9. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to connect a noun to an adjective that describes it. | |
The sky is blue. | |
10. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by a noun or noun phrase. | |
The sky is a deep blue today. | |
11. v. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form the passive voice. | |
The dog was drowned by the boy. | |
12. v. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form the continuous forms of various tenses. | |
The woman is walking. | |
I shall be writing to you soon. | |
We liked to chat while we were eating. | |
13. v. (archaic, auxiliary) Used to form the perfect aspect with certain intransitive verbs, most of which indicate motion. Often still used for "to go". | |
14. v. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form future tenses, especially the future periphrastic. | |
I am to leave tomorrow. | |
I would drive you, were I to obtain a car. | |
15. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to link a subject to a measurement. | |
This building is three hundred years old. | |
I am 75 kilograms. | |
He’s about 6 feet tall. | |
16. v. (transitive, copulative, with a cardinal numeral) Used to state the age of a subject in years. | |
I’m 20. (= I am 20 years old.) | |
17. v. (with a dummy subject) it Used to indicate the time of day. | |
It is almost eight. (= It is almost eight o’clock.) | |
It’s 8:30 read eight-thirty in Tokyo. | |
What time is it there? It’s night. | |
18. v. (With since) Used to indicate passage of time since the occurrence of an event. | |
It has been three years since my grandmother died. (similar to My grandmother died three years ago, but emphasizes the intervening period) | |
It had been six days since his departure, when I received a letter from him. | |
19. v. (often, impersonal, with it as a dummy subject) Used to indicate weather, air quality, or the like. | |
It is hot in Arizona, but it is not usually humid. | |
Why is it so dark in here? | |
20. v. (dynamic/lexical "be", especially in progressive tenses, conjugated non-suppletively in the present tense, see usage notes) To exist or behave in a certain way. | |
"What do we do?" "We be ourselves.". | |
Why is he being nice to me? | |
still |
1. adj. Not moving; calm. | |
Still waters run deep. | |
2. adj. Not effervescing; not sparkling. | |
still water; still wines | |
3. adj. Uttering no sound; silent. | |
4. adj. (not comparable) Having the same stated quality continuously from a past time | |
5. adj. Comparatively quiet or silent; soft; gentle; low. | |
6. adj. (obsolete) Constant; continual. | |
7. adv. Without motion. | |
They stood still until the guard was out of sight. | |
8. adv. (aspect) Up to a time, as in the preceding time. | |
Is it still raining? It was still raining five minutes ago. | |
We've seen most of the sights, but we are still to visit the museum. | |
9. adv. (degree) To an even greater degree. Used to modify comparative adjectives or adverbs. | |
Tom is tall; Dick is taller; Harry is still taller. ("still" and "taller" can easily swap places here) | |
10. adv. (conjunctive) Nevertheless. | |
I’m not hungry, but I’ll still manage to find room for dessert. | |
Yeah, but still... | |
11. adv. (archaic, poetic) Always; invariably; constantly; continuously. | |
12. adv. (extensive) Even, yet. | |
Some dogs howl, more yelp, still more bark. | |
13. n. A period of calm or silence. | |
the still of the night | |
14. n. (photography) A photograph, as opposed to movie footage. | |
15. n. (slang) A resident of the Falkland Islands. | |
16. n. A steep hill or ascent. | |
17. n. a device for distilling liquids. | |
18. n. (catering) a large water boiler used to make tea and coffee. | |
19. n. (catering) the area in a restaurant used to make tea and coffee, separate from the main kitchen. | |
20. n. A building where liquors are distilled; a distillery. | |
21. v. to calm down, to quiet | |
to still the raging sea | |
22. v. (obsolete) To trickle, drip. | |
23. v. To cause to fall by drops. | |
24. v. To expel spirit from by heat, or to evaporate and condense in a refrigeratory; to distill. | |
an |
1. art. Form of a used before a vowel sound | |
2. art. (now quite rare) Form of a used before 'h' in an unstressed syllable | |
3. art. (nonstandard) Form of a used before 'h' in a stressed syllable | |
4. conj. (archaic) If | |
5. conj. (archaic) So long as. | |
An it harm none, do what ye will. | |
6. conj. (archaic) As if; as though. | |
7. n. The first letter of the Georgian alphabet, ა (Mkhedruli), Ⴀ (Asomtavruli) or ⴀ (Nuskhuri). | |
8. prep. In each; to or for each; per. | |
I was only going twenty miles an hour. | |
undergraduate |
1. n. A student at a university who has not yet received a degree. | |
2. adj. Of, relating to, or being an undergraduate. | |
undergraduate studies | |