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. | |
official |
1. adj. Of or pertaining to an office or public trust. | |
official duties | |
2. adj. Derived from the proper office or officer, or from the proper authority; made or communicated by virtue of authority | |
an official statement or report | |
3. adj. Approved by authority; authorized. | |
The Official Strategy Guide | |
4. adj. (Of a statement) Dubious but recognized by authorities as truth and/or canon. | |
Despite these testimonies, "accidental asphyxiation" remains his official cause of death. | |
5. adj. (pharmaceutical) Sanctioned by the pharmacopoeia; appointed to be used in medicine; officinal. | |
an official drug or preparation | |
6. adj. Discharging an office or function. | |
7. adj. Relating to an office; especially, to a subordinate executive officer or attendant. | |
8. adj. Relating to an ecclesiastical judge appointed by a bishop, chapter, archdeacon, etc., with charge of the spiritual jurisdiction. | |
9. adj. True, real, beyond doubt. | |
Well, it's official: you lost your mind! | |
10. n. An office holder invested with powers and authorities. | |
David Barnes was the official charged with the running of the sports club. | |
Last year, Yulong Snow Mountain park officials reported that 2.6 million visitors came to the mountain. | |
11. n. A person responsible for applying the rules of a game or sport in a competition. | |
In most soccer games there are three officials: the referee and two linesmen. | |
Worship |
1. n. (British) A form of address of a mayor and other dignitaries | |
2. n. (Canada, archaic) A form of address of a mayor. The Gazette (Montreal), , 14 December 1939 (accessed 31 March 2010) | |
3. n. (obsolete) The condition of being worthy; honour, distinction. | |
4. n. The devotion accorded to a deity or to a sacred object. | |
5. n. The religious ceremonies that express this devotion. | |
6. n. (by extension) Voluntary, utter submission; voluntary, utter deference. | |
7. n. (also by extension) Ardent love. | |
8. n. An object of worship. | |
9. n. Honour; respect; civil deference. | |
10. v. To reverence (a deity, etc.) with supreme respect and veneration; to perform religious exercises in honour of. | |
11. v. To honour with extravagant love and extreme submission, as a lover; to adore; to idolize. | |
12. v. (intransitive) To participate in religious ceremonies. | |
We worship at the church down the road. | |
service |
1. n. An act of being of assistance to someone. | |
I say I did him a service by ending our relationship - now he can freely pursue his career. | |
2. n. (economics) The practice of providing such a service as economic activity. | |
Hair care is a service industry. | |
3. n. A department in a company, an organization, a government department, etc. | |
4. n. (computing) A function that is provided by one program or machine for another. | |
This machine provides the name service for the LAN. | |
5. n. The state of being subordinate to or employed by an individual or group | |
Lancelot was at the service of King Arthur. | |
6. n. The military. | |
I did three years in the service before coming here. | |
7. n. (anchor, silverware)A set of dishes or utensils. | |
She brought out the silver tea service. | |
8. n. (sports) The act of initially starting, or serving, the ball in play in tennis, volleyball, and other games. | |
The player had four service faults in the set. | |
9. n. A religious rite or ritual. | |
The funeral service was touching. | |
10. n. (legal) The serving, or delivery, of a summons or writ. | |
The service happened yesterday. | |
11. n. (Israel, West Bank, also in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) A taxi shared among unrelated passengers, each of whom pays part of the fare; often, it has a fixed route between cities. | |
12. n. A musical composition for use in churches. | |
13. n. (obsolete) Profession of respect; acknowledgment of duty owed. | |
14. n. (nautical) The materials used for serving a rope, etc., such as spun yarn and small lines. | |
15. v. To serve. | |
They service the customer base. | |
16. v. To perform maintenance. | |
He is going to service the car. | |
17. v. (transitive, agriculture, euphemistic) To inseminate through sexual intercourse | |
18. v. (transitive, vulgar) To perform a sexual act. | |
He was going to service her. | |
19. n. service tree | |
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. | |
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. | |
Christian |
1. n. A believer in Christianity. | |
2. n. An individual who seeks to live his or her life according to the principles and values taught by Jesus Christ. | |
3. adj. (not comparable) Of, like or relating to Christianity or Christians. | |
4. adj. (not comparable) Of, like or relating to Jesus Christ. | |
5. adj. Kind, charitable; moral; a term of approbation. | |
That's very Christian of you. | |
church |
1. n. A Christian house of worship; a building where religious services take place. | |
There is a lovely little church in the valley. | |
This building used to be a church before being converted into a library. | |
2. n. Christians collectively seen as a single spiritual community; Christianity. | |
These worshippers make up the Church of Christ. | |
3. n. A local group of people who follow the same Christian religious beliefs, local or general. | |
4. n. A particular denomination of Christianity. | |
The Church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534. | |
5. n. (as bare noun) Christian worship held at a church; service. | |
6. n. (informal) A (non-Christian) religion; a religious group. | |
She goes to a Wiccan church down the road. | |
7. n. (obsolete) assembly | |
8. v. (transitive, now historical) To conduct a religious service for (a woman after childbirth, or a newly married couple). | |
9. v. To educate someone religiously, as in in a church. | |