labour |
1. n. Effort expended on a particular task; toil, work. | |
2. n. That which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that which demands effort. | |
3. n. Workers in general; the working class, the workforce; sometimes specifically the labour movement, organised labour. | |
4. n. A political party or force aiming or claiming to represent the interests of labour. | |
5. n. The act of a mother giving birth. | |
6. n. The time period during which a mother gives birth. | |
7. n. (nautical) The pitching or tossing of a vessel which results in the straining of timbers and rigging. | |
8. n. An old measure of land area in Mexico and Texas, approximately 177 acres. | |
9. v. (intransitive) To toil, to work. | |
10. v. To belabour, to emphasise or expand upon (a point in a debate, etc). | |
I think we've all got the idea. There's no need to labour the point. | |
11. v. To be oppressed with difficulties or disease; to do one's work under conditions which make it especially hard or wearisome; to move slowly, as against opposition, or under a burden. | |
12. v. To suffer the pangs of childbirth. | |
13. v. (nautical) To pitch or roll heavily, as a ship in a turbulent sea. | |
may |
1. v. (obsolete, intransitive) To be strong; to have power (over). | |
2. v. (obsolete, auxiliary) To be able; can. | |
3. v. (intransitive, poetic) To be able to go. | |
4. v. (modal auxiliary verb, defective) To have permission to, be allowed. Used in granting permission and in questions to make polite requests. | |
you may smoke outside; may I sit there? | |
5. v. (modal auxiliary verb, defective) Expressing a present possibility; possibly. | |
he may be lying; Schrödinger's cat may or may not be in the box | |
6. v. (subjunctive present, defective) Expressing a wish (with present subjunctive effect). | |
may you win; may the weather be sunny | |
7. v. Used in modesty, courtesy, or concession, or to soften a question or remark. | |
8. n. The hawthorn bush or its blossoms. | |
9. v. (poetic, intransitive) To gather may, or flowers in general. | |
10. v. (poetic, intransitive) To celebrate May Day. | |
11. n. (archaic) A maiden. | |
say |
1. v. To pronounce. | |
Please say your name slowly and clearly. | |
2. v. To recite. | |
Martha, will you say the Pledge of Allegiance? | |
3. v. To tell, either verbally or in writing. | |
He said he would be here tomorrow. | |
4. v. To indicate in a written form. | |
The sign says it’s 50 kilometres to Paris. | |
5. v. (impersonal) To have a common expression; used in singular passive voice or plural active voice to indicate a rumor or well-known fact. | |
They say "when in Rome, do as the Romans do", which means "behave as those around you do.". | |
6. v. (informal, imperative) Suppose, assume; used to mark an example, supposition or hypothesis. | |
A holiday somewhere warm – Florida, say – would be nice. | |
Say he refuses. What do we do then? | |
Say your family is starving and you don't have any money, is it ok to steal some food? | |
7. v. (intransitive) To speak; to express an opinion; to make answer; to reply. | |
8. v. (transitive, informal, of a possession, especially money) To bet as a wager on an outcome; by extension, used to express belief in an outcome by the speaker. | |
9. n. A chance to speak; the right or power to influence or make a decision. | |
10. adv. For example; let us assume. | |
Pick a color you think they'd like, say, peach. | |
He was driving pretty fast, say, fifty miles per hour. | |
11. interj. (colloquial) Used to gain one's attention before making an inquiry or suggestion | |
Say, what did you think about the movie? | |
12. n. A type of fine cloth similar to serge. | |
13. v. To try; to assay. | |
14. n. Trial by sample; assay; specimen. | |
15. n. Tried quality; temper; proof. | |
16. n. Essay; trial; attempt. | |
17. n. (Scotland) A strainer for milk. | |
it |
1. pron. The third-person singular personal pronoun that is normally used to refer to an inanimate object or abstract entity, also often used to refer to animals. | |
Put it over there. | |
Take each day as it comes. | |
I heard the sound of the school bus - it was early today. | |
2. pron. A third-person singular personal pronoun used to refer to a child, especially of unknown gender. | |
She took the baby and held it in her arms. | |
3. pron. Used to refer to someone being identified, often on the phone, but not limited to this situation. | |
It's me. John. | |
Is it her? | |
4. pron. The impersonal pronoun, used without referent as the subject of an impersonal verb or statement. (known as the dummy pronoun or weather it) | |
It is nearly 10 o’clock. | |
It’s 10:45 read ten-forty-five. | |
It’s very cold today. | |
It’s lonely without you. | |
5. pron. The impersonal pronoun, used without referent in various short idioms. | |
stick it out | |
live it up | |
rough it | |
6. pron. The impersonal pronoun, used as a placeholder for a delayed subject, or less commonly, object; known as the dummy pronoun or, more formally in linguistics, a syntactic expletive. The delayed subject i | |
It is easy to see how she would think that. (with the infinitive clause headed by to see) | |
I find it odd that you would say that. (with the noun clause introduced by that) | |
It is hard seeing you so sick. (with the gerund seeing) | |
He saw to it that everyone would vote for him. (with the noun clause introduced by that) | |
It is not clear if the report was true. (with the noun clause introduced by if) | |
7. pron. All or the end; something after which there is no more. | |
Are there more students in this class, or is this it? | |
That's it—I'm not going to any more candy stores with you. | |
8. pron. (chiefly pejorative, offensive) A third-person singular personal pronoun used to refer to an animate referent who is transgender or is neither female nor male. | |
9. pron. (obsolete) (Followed by an omitted and understood relative pronoun): That which; what. | |
10. det. (obsolete) its | |
11. n. One who is neither a he nor a she; a creature; a dehumanized being. | |
12. n. The person who chases and tries to catch the other players in the playground game of tag. | |
In the next game, Adam and Tom will be it… | |
13. n. (British) The game of tag. | |
Let's play it at breaktime. | |
14. n. Sex appeal, especially that which goes beyond beauty. | |
15. n. (euphemism) Sexual activity. | |
caught them doing it | |
16. adj. (colloquial) Most fashionable. | |
intends |
1. v. third-person singular present indicative of intend | |
intend |
1. v. (intransitive, usually followed by the particle "to") To fix the mind upon (something to be accomplished); be intent upon | |
he intends to go to university | |
we intend that she shall remain | |
2. v. To fix the mind on; attend to; take care of; superintend; regard. | |
3. v. (obsolete) To stretch to extend; distend. | |
4. v. To strain; make tense. | |
5. v. (obsolete) To intensify; strengthen. | |
6. v. To apply with energy. | |
7. v. To bend or turn; direct, as one’s course or journey. | |
8. v. To design mechanically or artistically; fashion; mold. | |
9. v. To pretend; counterfeit; simulate. | |
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 | |
devolve |
1. v. (obsolete, transitive) To roll (something) down; to unroll. | |
2. v. (intransitive) To be inherited by someone else; to pass down upon the next person in a succession, especially through failure or loss of an earlier holder. | |
3. v. To delegate (a responsibility, duty, etc.) on or upon someone. | |
4. v. (intransitive) To fall as a duty or responsibility on or upon someone. | |
5. v. (intransitive) To degenerate; to break down. | |
A discussion about politics may devolve into a shouting match. | |
Power |
1. n. A button of a computer, a video game console, or similar device, that when pressed, causes the device to be either shut down or powered up. | |
2. n. (social) Ability to coerce, influence or control. | |
3. n. Ability to affect or influence. | |
4. n. Control or coercion, particularly legal or political (jurisdiction). | |
5. n. (metonymy) (chiefly in the plural) The people in charge of legal or political power, the government. | |
6. n. (metonymy) An influential nation, company, or other such body. | |
7. n. (physical) Effectiveness. | |
8. n. Physical force or strength. | |
He needed a lot of power to hit the ball out of the stadium. | |
9. n. Electricity or a supply of electricity. | |
After the pylons collapsed, this town was without power for a few days. | |
10. n. A measure of the rate of doing work or transferring energy. | |
11. n. A rate to magnify an optical image by a lens or mirror. | |
We need a microscope with higher power. | |
12. n. Any of the elementary forms or parts of machines: three primary (the lever, inclined plane, and pulley) and three secondary (the wheel-and-axle, wedge, and screw). | |
the mechanical powers | |
13. n. mathematics | |
14. n. A product of equal factors (and generalizations of this notion):x^n, read as "x to the power ofn" or the like, is called a power and denotes the produc | |
15. n. (set theory) Cardinality. | |
16. n. (statistics) The probability that a statistical test will reject the null hypothesis when the alternative hypothesis is true. | |
17. n. (biblical, in plural) In Christian angelology, an intermediate level of angels, ranked above archangels, but exact position varies by classification scheme. | |
18. v. To provide power for (a mechanical or electronic device). | |
This CD player is powered by batteries. | |
19. v. To hit or kick something forcefully. | |
20. v. To enable or provide the impetus for. | |
21. adj. (Singapore, colloquial) Impressive. | |
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 | |
lower |
1. adj. comparative form of low: more low | |
2. adj. bottom; more towards the bottom than the middle of an object | |
3. adj. (geology, of strata or geological time periods) older | |
4. adv. comparative form of low: more low | |
5. v. To let descend by its own weight, as something suspended; to let down | |
lower a bucket into a well | |
to lower a sail of a boat | |
6. v. to pull down | |
to lower a flag | |
7. v. To reduce the height of | |
lower a fence or wall | |
lower a chimney or turret | |
8. v. To depress as to direction | |
lower the aim of a gun | |
9. v. To make less elevated | |
to lower one's ambition, aspirations, or hopes | |
10. v. To reduce the degree, intensity, strength, etc., of | |
lower the temperature | |
lower one's vitality | |
lower distilled liquors | |
11. v. To bring down; to humble | |
lower one's pride | |
12. v. (reflexive) (lower oneself) To humble oneself; to do something one considers to be beneath one's dignity. | |
I could never lower myself enough to buy second-hand clothes. | |
13. v. To reduce (something) in value, amount, etc. | |
lower the price of goods | |
lower the interest rate | |
14. v. (intransitive) To fall; to sink; to grow less; to diminish; to decrease | |
The river lowered as rapidly as it rose. | |
15. v. (intransitive) To decrease in value, amount, etc. | |
16. v. alternative spelling of lour. | |
levels |
1. n. plural of level | |
2. v. third-person singular present indicative of level | |
level |
1. adj. The same height at all places; parallel to a flat ground. | |
This table isn't quite level; see how this marble rolls off it? | |
2. adj. At the same height as some reference; constructed as level with. | |
We tried to hang the pictures so that the bottom of the frames were level with the dark line in the wallpaper. | |
3. adj. Unvaried in frequency. | |
His pulse has been level for 12 hours. | |
4. adj. Unvaried in volume. | |
His voice has been unchanged. It has been level for 12 hours. | |
5. adj. Calm. | |
He kept a level head under stress. | |
6. adj. In the same position or rank. | |
7. adj. Straightforward; direct; clear. | |
8. adj. Well balanced; even; just; steady; impartial. | |
a level head; a level understanding | |
9. adj. (phonetics) Of even tone; without rising or falling inflection; monotonic. | |
10. adj. (physics) Perpendicular to a gravitational force. | |
The earth's oceans remain level in relation to the pull of gravity. | |
11. n. A tool for finding whether a surface is level, or for creating a horizontal or vertical line of reference. | |
Hand me the level so I can tell if this is correctly installed. | |
12. n. A distance relative to a given reference elevation. | |
By the end of the day, we'd dug down to the level of the old basement floor. | |
13. n. Degree or amount. | |
The sound level is much too high; this hurts my ears. We've reached a new level of success. | |
14. n. Achievement or qualification. | |
She achieved a high level of distinction. | |
15. n. (computer science) Distance from the root node of a tree structure. | |
16. n. (video games) One of several discrete segments of a game generally increasing in difficulty. Often numbered. Often, each level occupies different physical space (levels don't require any direct physic | |
It took me weeks to get to level seven. Watch out for the next level; the bad guys there are really overpowered. | |
17. n. (role-playing games, video games) A numeric value that quantifies a character's experience and power. | |
My half-orc barbarian reached fifth level before he was squashed by a troll. | |
18. n. A floor of a multi-storey building. | |
Take the elevator and get off at the promenade level. | |
19. n. (British) An area of almost perfectly flat land. | |
20. n. (Singapore, education) A school grade or year. | |
21. v. To adjust so as to make as flat or perpendicular to the ground as possible. | |
You can level the table by turning the pads that screw into the feet. | |
22. v. To destroy by reducing to ground level; to raze. | |
The hurricane leveled the forest. | |
23. v. (RPG, video games) To progress to the next level. | |
I levelled after defeating the dragon. | |
24. v. To aim or direct (a weapon, a stare, an accusation, etc). | |
He levelled an accusation of fraud at the directors. The hunter levels the gun before taking a shot. | |
25. v. To direct or impose (a penalty, fine, etc) at or upon (someone). | |
26. v. (sports) To make the score of a game equal. | |
27. v. (figurative) To bring to a common level or plane, in respect of rank, condition, character, privilege, etc. | |
to level all the ranks and conditions of men | |
28. v. To adjust or adapt to a certain level. | |
to level remarks to the capacity of children | |
29. v. (usually with "with") To speak honestly and openly with. | |
I tried to level with them, but they just wouldn't listen. | |
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. | |
government |
1. n. The body with the power to make and/or enforce laws to control a country, land area, people or organization. | |
2. n. (grammar, linguistics) The relationship between a word and its dependents | |
3. n. A group of people who hold a monopoly on the legitimate use of force in a given territory. | |
4. n. The state and its administration viewed as the ruling political power. | |
5. n. The management or control of a system. | |
6. n. The tenure of a chief of state. | |