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. | |
opening |
1. v. present participle of open | |
2. n. An act or instance of making or becoming open. | |
The daily openings of the day lily bloom gives it its name. | |
He remembered fondly the Christmas morning opening of presents. | |
3. n. Something that is open. | |
A salamander darted out of an opening in the rocks. | |
He slipped through an opening in the crowd. | |
4. n. An act or instance of beginning. | |
There have been few factory and store openings in the US lately. | |
Their opening of the concert with Brass in Pocket always fires up the crowd. | |
5. n. Something that is a beginning. | |
6. n. The first performance of a show or play by a particular troupe. | |
They were disappointed at the turnout for their opening, but hoped that word would spread. | |
7. n. The initial period a show at an art gallery or museum is first opened, especially the first evening. | |
8. n. The first few measures of a musical composition. | |
9. n. (chess) The first few moves in a game of chess. | |
John spends two hours a day studying openings, and another two hours studying endgames. | |
10. n. A vacant position, especially in an array. | |
Are there likely to be any openings on the Supreme Court in the next four years? | |
11. n. A time available in a schedule. | |
If you'd like to make a booking with us, we have an opening at twelve o'clock. | |
The only two-hour openings for the hockey rink are between 1AM and 5AM. | |
12. n. An unoccupied employment position. | |
We have an opening in our marketing department. | |
13. n. An opportunity, as in a competitive activity. | |
14. n. (math) In mathematical morphology, the dilation of the erosion of a set. | |
15. adj. (cricket) describing the first period of play, usually up to the fall of the first wicket; describing a batsman who opens the innings or a bowler who opens the attack | |
open |
1. adj. (not comparable) Not closed; accessible; unimpeded. | |
Turn left after the second open door. | |
It was as if his body had gone to sleep standing up and with his eyes open. | |
2. adj. Not drawn together, closed, or contracted; extended; expanded. | |
an open hand; an open flower; an open prospect | |
3. adj. (not comparable) Actively conducting or prepared to conduct business. | |
Banks are not open on bank holidays. | |
4. adj. (comparable) Receptive. | |
I am open to new ideas. | |
5. adj. (not comparable) Public | |
He published an open letter to the governor on a full page of the New York Times. | |
6. adj. (not comparable) Candid, ingenuous, not subtle in character. | |
The man is an open book. | |
7. adj. (mathematics, logic, of a formula) Having a free variable. | |
8. adj. (mathematics, topology, of a set) Which is part of a predefined collection of subsets ofX, that defines a topological space onX. | |
9. adj. (graph theory, of a walk) Whose first and last vertices are different. | |
10. adj. (computing, not comparable, of a file, document, etc.) In current use; mapped to part of memory. | |
I couldn't save my changes because another user had the same file open. | |
11. adj. (business) Not fulfilled. | |
I've got open orders for as many containers of red durum as you can get me. | |
12. adj. Not settled or adjusted; not decided or determined; not closed or withdrawn from consideration. | |
an open question | |
to keep an offer or opportunity open | |
13. adj. (music, stringed instruments) Without any fingers pressing the string against the fingerboard. | |
14. adj. Not of a quality to prevent communication, as by closing waterways, blocking roads, etc.; hence, not frosty or inclement; mild; used of the weather or the climate. | |
an open winter | |
15. adj. (phonetics) Uttered with a relatively wide opening of the articulating organs; said of vowels. | |
16. adj. (phonetics) Uttered, as a consonant, with the oral passage simply narrowed without closure. | |
17. adj. (phonetics, of a syllable) That ends in a vowel; not having a coda. | |
18. adj. (computing) Made public, usable with a free licence. | |
19. adj. (medicine) Resulting from an incision, puncture or any other process by which the skin no longer protects an internal part of the body. | |
20. v. To make something accessible or allow for passage by moving from a shut position. | |
Turn the doorknob to open the door. | |
21. v. To make (an open space, etc.) by clearing away an obstacle or obstacles, in order to allow for passage, access, or visibility. | |
He opened a path through the undergrowth. | |
22. v. To bring up, broach. | |
I don't want to open that subject. | |
23. v. To enter upon, begin. | |
to open a discussion | |
to open fire upon an enemy | |
to open trade, or correspondence | |
to open a case in court, or a meeting | |
24. v. To spread; to expand into an open or loose position. | |
to open a closed fist | |
to open matted cotton by separating the fibres | |
to open a map, book, or scroll | |
25. v. To make accessible to customers or clients. | |
I will open the shop an hour early tomorrow. | |
26. v. To start (a campaign). | |
Vermont will open elk hunting season next week. | |
27. v. (intransitive) To become open. | |
The door opened all by itself. | |
28. v. (intransitive) To begin conducting business. | |
The shop opens at 9:00. | |
29. v. (intransitive, cricket) To begin a side's innings as one of the first two batsmen. | |
30. v. (intransitive, poker) To bet before any other player has in a particular betting round in a game of poker. | |
After the first two players fold, Julie opens for $5. | |
31. v. (transitive, intransitive, poker) To reveal one's hand. | |
Jeff opens his hand revealing a straight flush. | |
32. v. (computing, transitive, intransitive, of a file, document, etc.) To load into memory for viewing or editing. | |
33. v. (obsolete) To disclose; to reveal; to interpret; to explain. | |
34. n. A sports event in which anybody can compete; as, the Australian Open. | |
35. n. (electronics) A wire that is broken midway. | |
The electrician found the open in the circuit after a few minutes of testing. | |
36. n. (with the) Open or unobstructed space; an exposed location. | |
I can't believe you left the lawnmower out in the open when you knew it was going to rain this afternoon! | |
Wary of hunters, the fleeing deer kept well out of the open, dodging instead from thicket to thicket. | |
37. n. (with the) Public knowledge or scrutiny; full view. | |
We have got to bring this company's corrupt business practices into the open. | |
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. | |
space |
1. n. Of time.: | |
2. n. (now rare, archaic) Free time; leisure, opportunity. | |
3. n. A specific (specified) period of time. | |
4. n. An undefined period of time (without qualifier, especially a short period); a while. | |
5. n. Unlimited or generalized physical extent.: | |
6. n. Distance between things. | |
7. n. Physical extent across two or three dimensions; area, volume (sometimes for or to do something). | |
8. n. Physical extent in all directions, seen as an attribute of the universe (now usually considered as a part of space-time), or a mathematical model of th | |
9. n. The near-vacuum in which planets, stars and other celestial objects are situated; the universe beyond the earth's atmosphere. | |
10. n. The physical and psychological area one needs within which to live or operate; personal freedom. | |
11. n. A bounded or specific physical extent.: | |
12. n. A (chiefly empty) area or volume with set limits or boundaries. | |
13. n. (music) A position on the staff or stave bounded by lines. | |
14. n. A gap in text between words, lines etc., or a digital character used to create such a gap. | |
15. n. (metal type) A piece of metal type used to separate words, cast lower than other type so as not to take ink, especially one that is narrower than one e | |
16. n. A gap; an empty place. | |
17. n. (geometry) A set of points, each of which is uniquely specified by a number (the dimensionality) of coordinates. | |
18. n. (mathematics) A generalized construct or set whose members have some property in common; typically there will be a geometric metaphor allowing these me | |
Functional analysis is best approached through a sound knowledge of Hilbert space theory. | |
19. n. (figuratively) A marketplace for goods or services. | |
innovation in the browser space | |
20. v. (obsolete, intransitive) To roam, walk, wander. | |
21. v. To set some distance apart. | |
Faye had spaced the pots at 8-inch intervals on the windowsill. | |
The cities are evenly spaced. | |
22. v. To insert or utilise spaces in a written text. | |
This paragraph seems badly spaced. | |
23. v. (transitive, science fiction) To eject into outer space, usually without a space suit. | |
The captain spaced the traitors. | |
24. v. (intransitive, science fiction) To travel into and through outer space. | |
enclosed |
1. adj. Contained; held within a container. | |
2. adj. (architecture) Fenced in or surrounded. | |
3. adj. (music, of a division within a pipe organ surrounded by a wooden box, one or more sides of which contain slats that can be opened or closed in order to increase or decrease volume) Having closed slats | |
4. v. simple past tense and past participle of enclose | |
enclose |
1. v. To surround with a wall, fence, etc. | |
to enclose lands | |
2. v. To insert into a container, usually an envelope or package. | |
Please enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope if you require a reply. | |
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 | |
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. | |
threads |
1. n. plural of thread | |
2. n. (pluralonly, slang) clothes. | |
3. v. third-person singular present indicative of thread | |
thread |
1. n. A long, thin and flexible form of material, generally with a round cross-section, used in sewing, weaving or in the construction of string. | |
2. n. A continued theme or idea. | |
All of these essays have a common thread. | |
I’ve lost the thread of what you’re saying. | |
3. n. (engineering) A screw thread. | |
4. n. A sequence of connections. | |
5. n. The line midway between the banks of a stream. | |
6. n. (computing) A unit of execution, lighter in weight than a process, usually sharing memory and other resources with other threads executing concurrently. | |
7. n. (Internet) A series of messages, generally grouped by subject, in which all messages except the first are replies to previous messages in the thread. | |
8. n. A filament, as of a flower, or of any fibrous substance, as of bark. | |
9. n. (figurative) Composition; quality; fineness. | |
10. v. To put thread through. | |
thread a needle | |
11. v. To pass (through a narrow constriction or around a series of obstacles). | |
I think I can thread my way through here, but it’s going to be tight. | |
12. v. To screw on, to fit the threads of a nut on a bolt | |
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. | |
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. | |
net |
1. n. A mesh of string, cord or rope. | |
a net for the hair; a mosquito net; a tennis net | |
2. n. A device made from such mesh, used for catching fish, butterflies, etc. | |
3. n. A device made from such mesh, generally used for trapping something. | |
4. n. Anything that has the appearance of such a device. | |
Petri net | |
5. n. (by extension) A trap. | |
caught in the prosecuting attorney's net | |
6. n. (geometry) Of a polyhedron, any set of polygons joined edge to edge that, when folded along the edges between adjoining polygons so that the outer edges touch, form the polyhedron. | |
7. n. A system that interconnects a number of users, locations etc. allowing transport or communication between them. | |
a computer network; a road network; an electricity distribution network | |
8. n. (electronics) A conductor that interconnects two or more component terminals. | |
9. n. (sports) A framework backed by a mesh, serving as the goal in hockey, soccer, lacrosse, etc. | |
The striker headed the ball into the net to make it 1-0. | |
10. n. (sports) A mesh stretched to divide the court in tennis, badminton, volleyball, etc. | |
11. n. (tennis, by extension) The area of the court close to the net (mesh stretched to divide the court). | |
12. v. To catch by means of a net. | |
13. v. (transitive, figuratively) To catch in a trap, or by stratagem. | |
14. v. To enclose or cover with a net. | |
to net a tree | |
15. v. (transitive, football) To score (a goal). | |
Evans netted the winner in the 80th minute. | |
16. v. (tennis) To hit the ball into the net. | |
17. v. To form network or netting; to knit. | |
18. adj. (obsolete) Good, desirable; clean, decent, clear. | |
19. adj. Free from extraneous substances; pure; unadulterated; neat. | |
net wine | |
20. adj. Remaining after expenses or deductions. | |
net profit; net weight | |
21. adj. Final; end. | |
net result; net conclusion | |
22. adv. After expenses or deductions. | |
You'll have $5000 net. | |
23. n. The amount remaining after expenses are deducted; profit. | |
24. v. To receive as profit. | |
The company nets $30 on every sale. | |
25. v. To yield as profit for. | |
The scam netted the criminals $30,000. | |
26. v. To fully hedge a position. | |
Every party is netting their position with a counter-party | |
between |
1. prep. In the position or interval that separates (two things), or intermediate in quantity or degree. (See Usage notes below.) | |
John stood between Amy and Mary. Let's meet between two and three. | |
I want to buy one that costs somewhere between forty and fifty dollars. | |
2. prep. Done together or reciprocally. | |
conversation between friends | |
3. prep. Shared in confidence. | |
Between you and me, I think the boss is crazy. Let's keep this between ourselves. | |
4. prep. In transit from (one to the other, or connecting places). | |
He's between jobs right now. The shuttle runs between the town and the airport. | |
5. prep. Combined (by effort or ownership). | |
Between us all, we shall succeed. We've only got £5 between us. | |
Between the leaky taps and the peeling wallpaper, there isn't much about this house to appeal to a buyer. | |
6. prep. One of (representing a choice). | |
You must choose between him and me. | |
Some colour-blind people can't distinguish between red and green. | |
7. n. A kind of needle, shorter than a sharp, with a small rounded eye, used for making fine stitches on heavy fabrics. | |
knot |
1. n. A looping of a piece of string or of any other long, flexible material that cannot be untangled without passing one or both ends of the material through its loops. | |
Climbers must make sure that all knots are both secure and of types that will not weaken the rope. | |
2. n. (of hair, etc) A tangled clump. | |
The nurse was brushing knots from the protesting child's hair. | |
3. n. A maze-like pattern. | |
4. n. (mathematics) A non-self-intersecting closed curve in (e.g., three-dimensional) space that is an abstraction of a knot (in sense 1 above). | |
A knot can be defined as a non-self-intersecting broken line whose endpoints coincide: when such a knot is constrained to lie in a plane, then it is simply a polygon. | |
A knot in its original sense can be modeled as a mathematical knot (or link) as follows: if the knot is made with a single piece of rope, then abstract the shape of that | |
5. n. A difficult situation. | |
I got into a knot when I inadvertently insulted a policeman. | |
6. n. The whorl left in lumber by the base of a branch growing out of the tree's trunk. | |
When preparing to tell stories at a campfire, I like to set aside a pile of pine logs with lots of knots, since they burn brighter and make dramatic pops and cracks. | |
7. n. Local swelling in a tissue area, especially skin, often due to injury. | |
Jeremy had a knot on his head where he had bumped it on the bedframe. | |
8. n. A protuberant joint in a plant. | |
9. n. Any knob, lump, swelling, or protuberance. | |
10. n. the swelling of the Bulbus Glandis in members of the dog family; Canidae | |
11. n. The point on which the action of a story depends; the gist of a matter. | |
the knot of the tale | |
12. n. (engineering) A node. | |
13. n. A kind of epaulet; a shoulder knot. | |
14. n. A group of people or things. | |
15. n. A bond of union; a connection; a tie. | |
16. n. (nautical) A unit of speed, equal to one nautical mile per hour. (From the practice of counting the number of knots in the log-line (as it plays out) in a standard time. Traditionally spaced at one ev | |
Cedric claimed his old yacht could make 12 knots. | |
17. n. (slang) A nautical mile (incorrectly) | |
18. v. To form into a knot; to tie with a knot or knots. | |
We knotted the ends of the rope to keep it from unravelling. | |
19. v. To form wrinkles in the forehead, as a sign of concentration, concern, surprise, etc. | |
She knotted her brow in concentration while attempting to unravel the tangled strands. | |
20. v. To unite closely; to knit together. | |
21. v. (obsolete, rare) To entangle or perplex; to puzzle. | |
22. n. One of a variety of shore birds; the red-breasted sandpiper (variously Calidris canutus or). | |
and |
1. conj. As a coordinating conjunction; expressing two elements to be taken together or in addition to each other. | |
2. conj. Used simply to connect two noun phrases, adjectives or adverbs. | |
3. conj. Simply connecting two clauses or sentences. | |
4. conj. Introducing a clause or sentence which follows on in time or consequence from the first. | |
5. conj. (obsolete) Yet; but. | |
6. conj. Used to connect certain numbers: connecting units when they precede tens (not dated); connecting tens and units to hundreds, thousands etc. (now often | |
7. conj. (now colloquial, or literary) Used to connect more than two elements together in a chain, sometimes to stress the number of elements. | |
8. conj. Connecting two identical elements, with implications of continued or infinite repetition. | |
9. conj. Introducing a parenthetical or explanatory clause. | |
10. conj. Introducing the continuation of narration from a previous understood point; also used alone as a question: ‘and so what?’. | |
11. conj. (now regional or somewhat colloquial) Used to connect two verbs where the second is dependent on the first: ‘to’. Used especially after come, | |
12. conj. Introducing a qualitative difference between things having the same name; "as well as other". | |
13. conj. Used to combine numbers in addition; plus (with singular or plural verb). | |
14. conj. Expressing a condition.: | |
15. conj. (now US dialect) If; provided that. | |
16. conj. (obsolete) As if, as though. | |
17. n. (enm, music, often informal) In rhythm, the second half of a divided beat. | |
18. n. (UK dialectal) Breath. | |
19. n. (UK dialectal) Sea smoke; steam fog. | |
20. v. (UK dialectal, intransitive) To breathe; whisper; devise; imagine. | |
knot |
1. n. A looping of a piece of string or of any other long, flexible material that cannot be untangled without passing one or both ends of the material through its loops. | |
Climbers must make sure that all knots are both secure and of types that will not weaken the rope. | |
2. n. (of hair, etc) A tangled clump. | |
The nurse was brushing knots from the protesting child's hair. | |
3. n. A maze-like pattern. | |
4. n. (mathematics) A non-self-intersecting closed curve in (e.g., three-dimensional) space that is an abstraction of a knot (in sense 1 above). | |
A knot can be defined as a non-self-intersecting broken line whose endpoints coincide: when such a knot is constrained to lie in a plane, then it is simply a polygon. | |
A knot in its original sense can be modeled as a mathematical knot (or link) as follows: if the knot is made with a single piece of rope, then abstract the shape of that | |
5. n. A difficult situation. | |
I got into a knot when I inadvertently insulted a policeman. | |
6. n. The whorl left in lumber by the base of a branch growing out of the tree's trunk. | |
When preparing to tell stories at a campfire, I like to set aside a pile of pine logs with lots of knots, since they burn brighter and make dramatic pops and cracks. | |
7. n. Local swelling in a tissue area, especially skin, often due to injury. | |
Jeremy had a knot on his head where he had bumped it on the bedframe. | |
8. n. A protuberant joint in a plant. | |
9. n. Any knob, lump, swelling, or protuberance. | |
10. n. the swelling of the Bulbus Glandis in members of the dog family; Canidae | |
11. n. The point on which the action of a story depends; the gist of a matter. | |
the knot of the tale | |
12. n. (engineering) A node. | |
13. n. A kind of epaulet; a shoulder knot. | |
14. n. A group of people or things. | |
15. n. A bond of union; a connection; a tie. | |
16. n. (nautical) A unit of speed, equal to one nautical mile per hour. (From the practice of counting the number of knots in the log-line (as it plays out) in a standard time. Traditionally spaced at one ev | |
Cedric claimed his old yacht could make 12 knots. | |
17. n. (slang) A nautical mile (incorrectly) | |
18. v. To form into a knot; to tie with a knot or knots. | |
We knotted the ends of the rope to keep it from unravelling. | |
19. v. To form wrinkles in the forehead, as a sign of concentration, concern, surprise, etc. | |
She knotted her brow in concentration while attempting to unravel the tangled strands. | |
20. v. To unite closely; to knit together. | |
21. v. (obsolete, rare) To entangle or perplex; to puzzle. | |
22. n. One of a variety of shore birds; the red-breasted sandpiper (variously Calidris canutus or). | |
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. | |
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. | |
threads |
1. n. plural of thread | |
2. n. (pluralonly, slang) clothes. | |
3. v. third-person singular present indicative of thread | |
thread |
1. n. A long, thin and flexible form of material, generally with a round cross-section, used in sewing, weaving or in the construction of string. | |
2. n. A continued theme or idea. | |
All of these essays have a common thread. | |
I’ve lost the thread of what you’re saying. | |
3. n. (engineering) A screw thread. | |
4. n. A sequence of connections. | |
5. n. The line midway between the banks of a stream. | |
6. n. (computing) A unit of execution, lighter in weight than a process, usually sharing memory and other resources with other threads executing concurrently. | |
7. n. (Internet) A series of messages, generally grouped by subject, in which all messages except the first are replies to previous messages in the thread. | |
8. n. A filament, as of a flower, or of any fibrous substance, as of bark. | |
9. n. (figurative) Composition; quality; fineness. | |
10. v. To put thread through. | |
thread a needle | |
11. v. To pass (through a narrow constriction or around a series of obstacles). | |
I think I can thread my way through here, but it’s going to be tight. | |
12. v. To screw on, to fit the threads of a nut on a bolt | |
enclosing |
1. v. present participle of enclose | |
2. n. That which encloses. | |
3. n. The act or situation by which something is enclosed. | |
enclose |
1. v. To surround with a wall, fence, etc. | |
to enclose lands | |
2. v. To insert into a container, usually an envelope or package. | |
Please enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope if you require a reply. | |
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. | |
space |
1. n. Of time.: | |
2. n. (now rare, archaic) Free time; leisure, opportunity. | |
3. n. A specific (specified) period of time. | |
4. n. An undefined period of time (without qualifier, especially a short period); a while. | |
5. n. Unlimited or generalized physical extent.: | |
6. n. Distance between things. | |
7. n. Physical extent across two or three dimensions; area, volume (sometimes for or to do something). | |
8. n. Physical extent in all directions, seen as an attribute of the universe (now usually considered as a part of space-time), or a mathematical model of th | |
9. n. The near-vacuum in which planets, stars and other celestial objects are situated; the universe beyond the earth's atmosphere. | |
10. n. The physical and psychological area one needs within which to live or operate; personal freedom. | |
11. n. A bounded or specific physical extent.: | |
12. n. A (chiefly empty) area or volume with set limits or boundaries. | |
13. n. (music) A position on the staff or stave bounded by lines. | |
14. n. A gap in text between words, lines etc., or a digital character used to create such a gap. | |
15. n. (metal type) A piece of metal type used to separate words, cast lower than other type so as not to take ink, especially one that is narrower than one e | |
16. n. A gap; an empty place. | |
17. n. (geometry) A set of points, each of which is uniquely specified by a number (the dimensionality) of coordinates. | |
18. n. (mathematics) A generalized construct or set whose members have some property in common; typically there will be a geometric metaphor allowing these me | |
Functional analysis is best approached through a sound knowledge of Hilbert space theory. | |
19. n. (figuratively) A marketplace for goods or services. | |
innovation in the browser space | |
20. v. (obsolete, intransitive) To roam, walk, wander. | |
21. v. To set some distance apart. | |
Faye had spaced the pots at 8-inch intervals on the windowsill. | |
The cities are evenly spaced. | |
22. v. To insert or utilise spaces in a written text. | |
This paragraph seems badly spaced. | |
23. v. (transitive, science fiction) To eject into outer space, usually without a space suit. | |
The captain spaced the traitors. | |
24. v. (intransitive, science fiction) To travel into and through outer space. | |