having |
1. v. present participle of have | |
2. n. Something owned; possession; goods; estate. | |
have |
Additional archaic forms are second-person singular present tense hast, third-person singular present tense hath, present participle haveing, and second-person singular past tense hadst. | |
1. v. To possess, own, hold. | |
I have a house and a car. | |
Look what I have here — a frog I found on the street! | |
2. v. To be related in some way to (with the object identifying the relationship). | |
I have two sisters. | |
I have a lot of work to do. | |
3. v. To partake of a particular substance (especially a food or drink) or action. | |
I have breakfast at six o'clock. | |
Can I have a look at that? | |
I'm going to have some pizza and a beer right now. | |
4. v. To be scheduled to attend or participate in. | |
What class do you have right now? I have English. | |
Fred won't be able to come to the party; he has a meeting that day. | |
5. v. (auxiliary verb, taking a past participle) (Used in forming the perfect aspect and the past perfect aspect.) | |
I have already eaten today. | |
I had already eaten. | |
6. v. (auxiliary verb, taking a to-infinitive) See have to. | |
I have to go. | |
7. v. To give birth to. | |
The couple always wanted to have children. | |
My wife is having the baby right now! | |
My mother had me when she was 25. | |
8. v. To engage in sexual intercourse with. | |
He's always bragging about how many women he's had. | |
9. v. To accept as a romantic partner. | |
Despite my protestations of love, she would not have me. | |
10. v. (transitive with bare infinitive) To cause to, by a command, request or invitation. | |
They had me feed their dog while they were out of town. | |
11. v. (transitive with adjective or adjective-phrase complement) To cause to be. | |
He had him arrested for trespassing. | |
The lecture's ending had the entire audience in tears. | |
12. v. (transitive with bare infinitive) To be affected by an occurrence. (Used in supplying a topic that is not a verb argument.) | |
The hospital had several patients contract pneumonia last week. | |
I've had three people today tell me my hair looks nice. | |
13. v. (transitive with adjective or adjective-phrase complement) To depict as being. | |
Their stories differed; he said he'd been at work when the incident occurred, but her statement had him at home that entire evening. | |
14. v. (Used as interrogative auxiliary verb with a following pronoun to form tag questions. (For further discussion, see "Usage notes" below.)) | |
We haven't eaten dinner yet, have we? | |
Your wife hasn't been reading that nonsense, has she? | |
(UK usage) He has some money, hasn't he? | |
15. v. (UK, slang) To defeat in a fight; take. | |
I could have him! | |
I'm gonna have you! | |
16. v. (dated) To be able to speak a language. | |
I have no German. | |
17. v. To feel or be (especially painfully) aware of. | |
Dan certainly has arms today, probably from scraping paint off four columns the day before. | |
18. v. To be afflicted with, suffer from. | |
He had a cold last week. | |
19. v. To experience, go through, undergo. | |
We had a hard year last year, with the locust swarms and all that. | |
He had surgery on his hip yesterday. | |
I'm having the time of my life! | |
20. v. To trick, to deceive. | |
You had me alright! I never would have thought that was just a joke. | |
21. v. (transitive, often with present participle) To allow; to tolerate. | |
The child screamed incessantly for his mother to buy him a toy, but she wasn't having any of it. | |
I asked my dad if I could go to the concert this Thursday, but he wouldn't have it since it's a school night. | |
22. v. (transitive, often used in the negative) To believe, buy, be taken in by. | |
I made up an excuse as to why I was out so late, but my wife wasn't having any of it. | |
23. v. To host someone; to take in as a guest. | |
Thank you for having me! | |
24. v. To get a reading, measurement, or result from an instrument or calculation. | |
What do you have for problem two? | |
I have two contacts on my scope. | |
25. v. (transitive, of a jury) To consider a court proceeding that has been completed; to begin deliberations on a case. | |
We'll schedule closing arguments for Thursday, and the jury will have the case by that afternoon. | |
26. n. A wealthy or privileged person. | |
27. n. (uncommon) One who has some (contextually specified) thing. | |
28. n. (AU, NZ, informal) A fraud or deception; something misleading. | |
They advertise it as a great deal, but I think it's a bit of a have. | |
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. | |
several |
1. det. (obsolete) Separate, distinct; particular. | |
2. det. A number of different; various. (Now merged into later senses, below) | |
3. det. Consisting of a number more than two but not very many; diverse. | |
4. adv. By itself; severally. | |
5. n. (obsolete) An area of land in private ownership (as opposed to common land). | |
6. n. (archaic) A woman's loose outer garment, capable of being worn as a shawl, or in other forms. | |
component |
1. n. A smaller, self-contained part of a larger entity. Often refers to a manufactured object that is part of a larger device. | |
A CPU is a component of a computer. | |
2. adj. Making up a larger whole; as a component word. | |
3. adj. Made up of smaller complete units in combination; as a component stereo. | |
parts |
1. n. plural of part | |
2. n. (plural only) Intellectual ability or learning. | |
He was a man of great parts but little virtue. | |
3. n. (plural only, usually with “these”, colloquial) Vicinity, region. | |
4. n. (plural only, euphemistic) The genitals, short for private parts. | |
5. v. third-person singular present indicative of part | |
part |
1. n. A portion; a component. | |
2. n. A fraction of a whole. | |
Gaul is divided into three parts. | |
3. n. A distinct element of something larger. | |
The parts of a chainsaw include the chain, engine, and handle. | |
4. n. A group inside a larger group. | |
5. n. Share, especially of a profit. | |
I want my part of the bounty. | |
6. n. A unit of relative proportion in a mixture. | |
The mixture comprises one part sodium hydroxide and ten parts water. | |
7. n. 3.5 centiliters of one ingredient in a mixed drink. | |
8. n. A section of a document. | |
Please turn to Part I, Chapter 2. | |
9. n. A section of land; an area of a country or other territory; region. | |
10. n. (math, dated) A factor. | |
3 is a part of 12. | |
11. n. (US) A room in a public building, especially a courtroom. | |
12. n. Duty; responsibility. | |
to do one’s part | |
13. n. Position or role (especially in a play). | |
We all have a part to play. | |
14. n. (music) The melody played or sung by a particular instrument, voice, or group of instruments or voices, within a polyphonic piece. | |
The first violin part in this concerto is very challenging. | |
15. n. Each of two contrasting sides of an argument, debate etc.; "hand". | |
16. n. (US) The dividing line formed by combing the hair in different directions. | |
The part of his hair was slightly to the left. | |
17. n. (Judaism) In the Hebrew lunisolar calendar, a unit of time equivalent to 3⅓ seconds. | |
18. n. A constituent of character or capacity; quality; faculty; talent; usually in the plural with a collective sense. | |
19. v. (intransitive) To leave someone's company; (rare, poetic, literary) to go way; to die; to get rid of something, stop using it. | |
20. v. To cut hair with a parting; shed. | |
21. v. To divide in two. | |
to part the curtains | |
22. v. (intransitive) To be divided in two or separated; shed. | |
A rope parts. His hair parts in the middle. | |
23. v. (transitive, now rare) To divide up; to share. | |
24. v. (obsolete) To have a part or share; to partake. | |
25. v. To separate or disunite; to remove from contact or contiguity; to sunder. | |
26. v. (obsolete) To hold apart; to stand or intervene between. | |
27. v. To separate by a process of extraction, elimination, or secretion. | |
to part gold from silver | |
28. v. (transitive, archaic) To leave; to quit. | |
29. v. (transitive, internet) To leave (an IRC channel). | |
30. adj. Fractional; partial. | |
Fred was part owner of the car. | |
31. adv. Partly; partially; fractionally. | |
Part finished | |
adherent |
1. adj. Adhesive, sticking to something. | |
2. adj. Having the quality of clinging or sticking fast to something. | |
3. adj. (botany) Attaching or pressing against a different organ. | |
4. n. A person who has membership in some group, association or religion. | |
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 | |
each |
1. det. All; every; qualifying a singular noun, indicating all examples of the thing so named seen as individual or separate items (compare every). | |
make sure you wash each bowl well; the sun comes up each morning and sets each night | |
2. det. Every one; every thing. | |
I'm going to give each of you a chance to win. | |
3. det. For one; per. | |
The apples cost 50 cents each. | |
4. n. (operations, philosophy) An individual item: the least quantitative unit in a grouping. | |
other |
1. adj. See other (determiner) below | |
2. adj. second. | |
I get paid every other week. | |
3. adj. Alien. | |
4. adj. Different. | |
5. adj. (obsolete) Left, as opposed to right. | |
6. n. An other one, more often rendered as another. | |
I'm afraid little Robbie does not always play well with others. | |
7. n. The other one; the second of two. | |
One boat is not better than the other. | |
8. det. Not the one or ones previously referred to. | |
Other people would do it differently. | |
9. adv. Apart from; in the phrase "other than". | |
Other than that, I'm fine. | |
10. adv. (obsolete) Otherwise. | |
It shall none other be. — Chaucer. | |
If you think other. — Shakespeare. | |
11. v. To regard, label or treat as an "other", as not part of the same group; to view as different and alien. | |
12. v. To treat as different or separate; segregate; ostracise. | |
only |
1. adj. Alone in a category. | |
He is the only doctor for miles. | |
The only people in the stadium were the fans: no players, coaches, or officials. | |
That was the only time I went to Turkey. | |
2. adj. Singularly superior; the best. | |
He is the only trombonist to recruit. | |
3. adj. Without sibling; without a sibling of the same gender. | |
He is their only son, in fact, an only child. | |
4. adj. (obsolete) Mere. | |
5. adv. Without others or anything further; exclusively. | |
My heart is hers, and hers only. The cat sat only on the mat. It kept off the sofa. | |
6. adv. No more than; just. | |
The cat only sat on the mat. It didn't scratch it. If there were only one more ticket! | |
7. adv. As recently as. | |
He left only moments ago. | |
8. adv. (obsolete) Above all others; particularly. | |
9. conj. Under the condition that; but. | |
10. conj. But; except. | |
I would enjoy running, only I have this broken leg. | |
11. n. An only child. | |
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 | |
such |
1. det. (demonstrative) Like this, that, these, those; used to make a comparison with something implied by context. | |
I’ve never seen such clouds in the sky before. Such is life. | |
2. det. (particularly used in formal documents) Any. | |
the above address or at such other address as may notify | |
3. det. Used as an intensifier; roughly equivalent to very much of. | |
The party was such a bore. | |
4. det. (obsolete) A certain; representing the object as already particularized in terms which are not mentioned. | |
5. pron. A person, a thing, people or things like the one or ones already mentioned. | |
6. n. (philosophy) Something being indicated that is similar to something else. | |
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. | |
degree |
1. n. (obsolete, outside, heraldry) A step on a set of stairs; the rung of a ladder. | |
2. n. An individual step, or stage, in any process or scale of values. | |
3. n. A stage of rank or privilege; social standing. | |
4. n. (genealogy) A ‘step’ in genealogical descent. | |
5. n. (now rare) One's relative state or experience; way, manner. | |
6. n. The amount that an entity possesses a certain property; relative intensity, extent. | |
To what degree do the two accounts of the accident concur? | |
7. n. A stage of proficiency or qualification in a course of study, now especially an award bestowed by a university or, in some countries, a college, as a certification of academic achievement. (In the Uni | |
She has two bachelor's degrees and is studying towards a master's degree. | |
8. n. (geometry) A unit of measurement of angle equal to 1/360 of a circle's circumference. | |
A right angle is a ninety degree angle. | |
Most humans have a field of vision of almost 180 degrees. | |
9. n. (physics) A unit of measurement of temperature on any of several scales, such as Celsius or Fahrenheit. | |
90 degrees Fahrenheit is equivalent to 32.2 degrees Celsius. | |
Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. | |
10. n. (algebra) The sum of the exponents of a term; the order of a polynomial. | |
A quadratic polynomial is a polynomial of degree 2. | |
11. n. (algebra, field theory) The dimensionality of a field extension. | |
The set of complex numbers constitutes a field extension of degree 2 over the real numbers. | |
The Galois field\operatornameGF(125) = \operatornameGF(5^3) has degree 3 over its subfield\operatornameGF(5). | |
12. n. (graph theory) The number of edges that a vertex takes part in; a valency. | |
13. n. (logic) The number of logical connectives in a formula. | |
14. n. (surveying) The curvature of a circular arc, expressed as the angle subtended by a fixed length of arc or chord. | |
15. n. (geography) A unit of measurement of latitude and longitude which together identify a location on the Earth's surface. | |
16. n. (grammar) Any of the three stages (positive, comparative, superlative) in the comparison of an adjective or an adverb. | |
As |
1. n. plural of A | |
She went from getting Cs and Ds to earning straight As. | |
2. adv. To such an extent or degree. | |
You’re not as tall as I am. | |
It's not as well made, but it's twice as expensive. | |
3. adv. In the manner or role specified. | |
The kidnappers released him as agreed. | |
The parties were seen as agreeing on a range of issues. | |
He was never seen as the boss, but rather as a friend. | |
4. adv. (dated) For example (compare such as). | |
5. conj. In the same way that; according to what. | |
Do as I say! | |
I'm under a lot of pressure, as you know. | |
As you wish, my lord! | |
6. conj. At the same instant that; when. | |
As I came in, she flew. | |
7. conj. At the same time that; while. | |
He sleeps as the rain falls. | |
8. conj. Varying through time in the same proportion that. | |
As my fear grew, so did my legs become heavy. | |
9. conj. Being that, considering that, because, since. | |
As it’s too late, I quit. | |
10. conj. Introducing a basis of comparison, after as, so, or a comparison of equality. | |
She's twice as strong as I was two years ago. | |
It's not so complicated as I expected. | |
11. conj. (dated) Introducing a comparison with a hypothetical state (+ subjunctive); ‘as though’, ‘as if’. | |
12. conj. Introducing a comparison with a hypothetical state with the verb elided; as if, as though. | |
13. conj. (now England, US, regional) Functioning as a relative conjunction; that. | |
14. conj. Expressing concession; though. | |
15. conj. (obsolete, rare) Than. | |
16. prep. Introducing a basis of comparison, with an object in the objective case. | |
You are not as tall as me. | |
They're big as houses. | |
17. prep. In the role of. | |
What is your opinion as a parent? | |
18. n. (unit of weight) A libra. | |
19. n. Any of several coins of Rome, coined in bronze or later copper; or the equivalent value. | |
20. n. plural of a | |
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 | |
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? | |
separable |
1. adj. Able to be separated. | |
2. adj. (analysis) Of a topological space, having a dense subset. | |
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 | |
mechanical |
1. adj. (now rare) Characteristic of someone who does manual labour for a living; coarse, vulgar. | |
2. adj. Related to mechanics (the branch of physics that deals with forces acting on mass). | |
mechanical engineering | |
3. adj. Related to mechanics (the design and construction of machines). | |
mechanical dictionary | |
4. adj. Done by machine. | |
mechanical task | |
5. adj. Using mechanics (the design and construction of machines): being a machine. | |
mechanical arm | |
6. adj. As if performed by a machine: lifeless or mindless. | |
a mechanical reply to a question | |
7. adj. (of a person) Acting as if one were a machine: lifeless or mindless. | |
The pianist was too mechanical. | |
8. adj. (informal) Handy with machines. | |
Why don't you ask Joe to fix it? He's very mechanical. | |
9. n. (advertising) Manually created layout of artwork that is camera ready for photographic reproduction. | |
10. n. One who does manual labor, especially one who is similar to Shakespeare's rude mechanicals | |
11. n. (science fiction) A robot or mechanical creature. | |
12. n. (engineering) A mechanical engineer. | |
13. n. (bicycling) An instance of equipment failure. | |
14. n. (music) A stop on an organ that is operated by a hand or foot control rather than having to be manually set up in advance. | |
15. n. (archaic) A machine that performs a job typically accomplished using an animal or manual labor. | |
means |
1. n. plural of mean | |
2. n. An instrument or condition for attaining a purpose. | |
She treated him as a means to an end. | |
A car is a means of transport. | |
3. n. Resources; riches. | |
a person of means; independent means | |
He was living beyond his means. | |
4. v. third-person singular present indicative of mean | |
mean |
1. v. To intend. | |
2. v. To intend, to plan (to do); to have as one's intention. | |
I didn't mean to knock your tooth out. | |
I mean to go to Baddeck this summer. | |
I meant to take the car in for a smog check, but it slipped my mind. | |
3. v. (intransitive) To have intentions of a given kind. | |
Don't be angry; she meant well. | |
4. v. (transitive, usually in passive) To intend (something) for a given purpose or fate; to predestine. | |
Actually this desk was meant for the subeditor. | |
Man was not meant to question such things. | |
5. v. To convey meaning. | |
6. v. To convey (a given sense); to signify, or indicate (an object or idea). | |
The sky is red this morning—does that mean we're in for a storm? | |
7. v. Of a word, symbol etc: to have reference to, to signify. | |
What does this hieroglyph mean? | |
8. v. Of a person (or animal etc): to intend to express, to imply, to hint at, to allude. | |
I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean. | |
He is a little different, if you know what I mean. | |
9. v. To have conviction in (something said or expressed); to be sincere in (what one says). | |
Does she really mean what she said to him last night? | |
Say what you mean and mean what you say. | |
10. v. To result in; to bring about. | |
One faltering step means certain death. | |
11. v. To be important (to). | |
My home life means a lot to me. | |
12. v. (Ireland, UK regional) To lament. | |
13. adj. (obsolete) Common; general. | |
14. adj. Of a common or low origin, grade, or quality; common; humble. | |
a man of mean parentage / a mean abode | |
15. adj. Low in quality or degree; inferior; poor; shabby. | |
a mean appearance / mean dress | |
16. adj. Without dignity of mind; destitute of honour; low-minded; spiritless; base. | |
a mean motive | |
17. adj. Of little value or account; worthy of little or no regard; contemptible; despicable. | |
18. adj. (chiefly UK) Ungenerous; stingy; tight-fisted. | |
He's so mean. I've never seen him spend so much as five pounds on presents for his children. | |
19. adj. Disobliging; pettily offensive or unaccommodating; small. | |
20. adj. Selfish; acting without consideration of others; unkind. | |
It was mean to steal the girl's piggy bank, but he just had to get uptown and he had no cash of his own. | |
21. adj. Causing or intending to cause intentional harm; bearing ill will towards another; cruel; malicious. | |
Watch out for her, she's mean. I said good morning to her, and she punched me in the nose. | |
22. adj. Powerful; fierce; harsh; damaging. | |
It must have been a mean typhoon that levelled this town. | |
23. adj. Accomplished with great skill; deft; hard to compete with. | |
Your mother can roll a mean cigarette. | |
He hits a mean backhand. | |
24. adj. (informal, often, childish) Difficult, tricky. | |
This problem is mean! | |
25. adj. Having the mean (see noun below) as its value. | |
26. adj. (obsolete) Middling; intermediate; moderately good, tolerable. | |
27. n. (now chiefly in the plural) A method or course of action used to achieve some result. | |
28. n. (obsolete, in the singular) An intermediate step or intermediate steps. | |
29. n. Something which is intermediate or in the middle; an intermediate value or range of values; a medium. | |
30. n. (music, now historical) The middle part of three-part polyphonic music; now specifically, the alto part in polyphonic music; an alto instrument. | |
31. n. (statistics) The average of a set of values, calculated by summing them together and dividing by the number of terms; the arithmetic mean. | |
32. n. (mathematics) Any function of multiple variables that satisfies certain properties and yields a number representative of its arguments; or, the number so yielded; a measure of central tendency. | |
33. n. (mathematics) Either of the two numbers in the middle of a conventionally presented proportion, as 2 and 3 in 1:2=3:6. | |