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. | |
preacher |
1. n. Someone who preaches a worldview, philosophy or religion, especially someone who preaches the gospel; a clergyman. | |
gave |
1. v. simple past tense of give | |
give |
1. v. (ditransitive) To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere. | |
2. v. To transfer one's possession or holding of (something) to (someone). | |
I gave him my coat. | |
I gave my coat to the beggar. | |
When they asked, I gave my coat. | |
3. v. To make a present or gift of. | |
I'm going to give my wife a necklace for her birthday. | |
She gave a pair of shoes to her husband for their anniversary. | |
He gives of his energies to the organization. | |
4. v. To pledge. | |
I gave him my word that I'd protect his children. | |
5. v. To provide (something) to (someone), to allow or afford. | |
I gave them permission to miss tomorrow's class. | |
Please give me some more time. | |
6. v. To cause (a sensation or feeling) to exist in. | |
It gives me a lot of pleasure to be here tonight. | |
The fence gave me an electric shock. | |
My mother-in-law gives me nothing but grief. | |
7. v. To carry out (a physical interaction) with (something). | |
I want to give you a kiss. | |
She gave him a hug. | |
I'd like to give the tire a kick. | |
I gave the boy a push on the swing. | |
She gave me a wink afterwards, so I knew she was joking. | |
8. v. To pass (something) into (someone's) hand or the like. | |
Give me your hand. | |
On entering the house, he gave his coat to the doorman. | |
9. v. To cause (a disease or condition) in, or to transmit (a disease or condition) to. | |
My boyfriend gave me chlamydia. | |
He was convinced that it was his alcoholism that gave him cancer. | |
10. v. (ditransitive) To estimate or predict (a duration or probability) for (something). | |
I give it ten minutes before he gives up. | |
I give it a 95% chance of success. | |
I'll give their marriage six months. | |
11. v. (intransitive) To yield slightly when a force is applied. | |
12. v. (intransitive) To collapse under pressure or force. | |
One pillar gave, then more, and suddenly the whole floor pancaked onto the floor below. | |
13. v. To provide, as, a service or a broadcast. | |
They're giving my favorite show! | |
14. v. (intransitive) To lead (onto or into). | |
The master bedroom gives onto a spacious balcony. | |
15. v. (transitive, dated) To provide a view of. | |
His window gave the park. | |
16. v. To exhibit as a product or result; to produce; to yield. | |
The number of men, divided by the number of ships, gives four hundred to each ship. | |
17. v. To cause; to make; used with the infinitive. | |
18. v. To cause (someone) to have; produce in (someone); effectuate. | |
19. v. To allow or admit by way of supposition; to concede. | |
He can be bad-tempered, I'll give you that, but he's a hard worker. | |
20. v. To attribute; to assign; to adjudge. | |
21. v. To communicate or announce (advice, tidings, etc.); to pronounce or utter (an opinion, a judgment, a shout, etc.). | |
22. v. (dated) To grant power or permission to; to allow. | |
23. v. (reflexive) To devote or apply (oneself). | |
The soldiers give themselves to plunder. | |
That boy is given to fits of bad temper. | |
24. v. (obsolete) To become soft or moist. | |
25. v. (obsolete) To shed tears; to weep. | |
26. v. (obsolete) To have a misgiving. | |
27. v. To be going on, to be occurring | |
What gives? | |
28. n. The amount of bending that something undergoes when a force is applied to it; a tendency to yield under pressure; resilence. | |
This chair doesn't have much give. | |
There is no give in his dogmatic religious beliefs. | |
Us |
1. n. plural of U | |
2. pron. (personal) Me and at least one other person; the objective case of we. | |
3. pron. (colloquial) Me. | |
Give us a look at your paper. | |
Give us your wallet! | |
4. pron. (Northern England) Our. | |
We'll have to throw us food out. | |
5. det. The speakers/writers, or the speaker/writer and at least one other person. | |
It's not good enough for us teachers. | |
6. n. plural of u | |
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. | |
long |
1. adj. Having much distance from one terminating point on an object or an area to another terminating point (usually applies to horizontal dimensions; see Usage Notes below). | |
It's a long way from the Earth to the Moon. | |
2. adj. Having great duration. | |
The pyramids of Egypt have been around for a long time. | |
3. adj. Seemingly lasting a lot of time, because it is boring or tedious or tiring. | |
4. adj. (UK, dialect) Not short; tall. | |
5. adj. (finance) Possessing or owning stocks, bonds, commodities or other financial instruments with the aim of benefiting of the expected rise in their value. | |
I'm long in DuPont; I have a long position in DuPont. | |
6. adj. (cricket) Of a fielding position, close to the boundary (or closer to the boundary than the equivalent short position). | |
7. adj. (tennis, of a ball or a shot) That land beyond the baseline (and therefore is out). | |
No! That forehand is longnb.... | |
8. adj. Occurring or coming after an extended interval; distant in time; far away. | |
9. adv. Over a great distance in space. | |
He threw the ball long. | |
10. adv. For a particular duration. | |
How long is it until the next bus arrives? | |
11. adv. For a long duration. | |
Will this interview take long? | |
Paris has long been considered one of the most cultured cities in the world. | |
12. n. (linguistics) A long vowel. | |
13. n. (programming) A long integer variable, twice the size of an int, two or four times the size of a short, and half of a long long. | |
A long is typically 64 bits in a 32-bit environment. | |
14. n. (finance) An entity with a long position in an asset. | |
Every uptick made the longs cheer. | |
15. n. (music) A note formerly used in music, one half the length of a large, twice that of a breve. | |
16. v. (transitive, finance) To take a long position in. | |
17. v. (intransitive) To await, aspire, desire greatly (something to occur or to be true) | |
She longed for him to come back. | |
18. adj. (archaic) On account of, because of. | |
19. v. (archaic) To be appropriate to, to pertain or belong to. | |
20. n. longitude | |
discourse |
1. n. (archaic) Verbal exchange, conversation. | |
2. n. Expression in words, either speech or writing. | |
3. n. A formal lengthy exposition of some subject, either spoken or written. | |
The preacher gave us a long discourse on duty. | |
4. n. Any rational expression, reason. | |
5. n. (social sciences) An institutionalized way of thinking, a social boundary defining what can be said about a specific topic (after Michel Foucault). | |
6. n. (obsolete) Dealing; transaction. | |
7. v. (intransitive) To engage in discussion or conversation; to converse. | |
8. v. (intransitive) To write or speak formally and at length. | |
9. v. (obsolete, transitive) To debate. | |
10. v. To exercise reason; to employ the mind in judging and inferring; to reason. | |
11. v. (obsolete, transitive) To produce or emit (musical sounds). | |
on |
1. adj. In the state of being active, functioning or operating. | |
2. adj. Performing according to schedule. | |
Are we still on for tonight? | |
Is the show still on? | |
3. adj. (chiefly UK, informal, usually negative) Acceptable, appropriate. | |
You can't do that; it's just not on. | |
4. adj. (informal) Destined, normally in the context of a challenge being accepted; involved, doomed. | |
"Five bucks says the Cavs win tonight." ―"You're on!". | |
Mike just threw coffee onto Paul's lap. It's on now. | |
5. adj. (baseball, informal) Having reached a base as a runner and being positioned there, awaiting further action from a subsequent batter. | |
6. adj. (euphemistic) Menstruating. | |
7. adv. To an operating state. | |
turn the television on | |
8. adv. Along, forwards (continuing an action). | |
drive on, rock on | |
9. adv. In continuation, at length. | |
and so on. | |
He rambled on and on. | |
10. adv. (not US) Later. | |
Ten years on, nothing had changed in the village. | |
11. prep. Positioned at the upper surface of, touching from above. | |
on the table; on the couch | |
The parrot was sitting on Jim's shoulder. | |
12. prep. At or near; adjacent to. | |
Soon we'll pass a statue on the left. | |
The fleet is on the American coast. | |
Croton-on-Hudson, Rostov-on-Don, Southend-on-Sea | |
13. prep. Covering. | |
He wore old shoes on his feet. | |
14. prep. At the date of. | |
Born on the 4th of July. | |
15. prep. Some time during the day of. | |
I'll see you on Monday. The bus leaves on Friday. Can I see you on a different day? On Sunday I'm busy. | |
16. prep. Dealing with the subject of, about, or concerning something. | |
A book on history. The World Summit on the Information Society. | |
17. prep. Touching; hanging from. | |
The fruit ripened on the trees. The painting hangs on the wall. | |
18. prep. (informal) In the possession of. | |
I haven't got any money on me. | |
19. prep. Because of, or due to. | |
To arrest someone on suspicion of bribery. To contact someone on a hunch. | |
20. prep. Upon; at the time of (and often because of). | |
On Jack's entry, William got up to leave. | |
On the addition of ammonia, a chemical reaction begins. | |
21. prep. Paid for by. | |
The drinks are on me tonight, boys. The meal is on the house. I paid for the airfare and meals for my family, but the hotel room was on the company. | |
22. prep. Used to indicate a means or medium. | |
I saw it on television. Can't you see I'm on the phone? | |
23. prep. Indicating a means of subsistence. | |
They lived on ten dollars a week. The dog survived three weeks on rainwater. | |
24. prep. Away or occupied with (e.g. a scheduled activity). | |
He's on his lunch break. on vacation; on holiday | |
25. prep. Denoting performance or action by contact with the surface, upper part, or outside of anything; hence, by means of; with. | |
to play on a violin or piano | |
Her words made a lasting impression on my mind. | |
26. prep. Regularly taking (a drug). | |
You've been on these antidepressants far too long. He's acting so strangely, I think he must be on something. | |
27. prep. Under the influence of (a drug). | |
He's acting crazy because he's on crack right now. | |
28. prep. (mathematics) Having identical domain and codomain. | |
a function on | |
29. prep. (mathematics) HavingV^n as domain and V as codomain, for some set V and integer n. | |
an operator on | |
30. prep. (mathematics) Generated by. | |
the free group on four letters | |
31. prep. Supported by (the specified part of itself). | |
A table can't stand on two legs. After resting on his elbows, he stood on his toes, then walked on his heels. | |
32. prep. At a given time after the start of something; at. | |
33. prep. In addition to; besides; indicating multiplication or succession in a series. | |
heaps on heaps of food | |
mischief on mischief; loss on loss | |
34. prep. (obsolete, regional) of | |
35. prep. Indicating dependence or reliance; with confidence in. | |
I depended on them for assistance. | |
He will promise on certain conditions. | |
Do you ever bet on horses? | |
36. prep. Toward; for; indicating the object of an emotion. | |
Have pity or compassion on him. | |
37. prep. (obsolete) At the peril of, or for the safety of. | |
38. prep. In the service of; connected with; of the number of. | |
He is on a newspaper; I am on the committee. | |
39. prep. By virtue of; with the pledge of. | |
He affirmed or promised on his word, or on his honour. | |
40. prep. To the account or detriment of; denoting imprecation or invocation, or coming to, falling, or resting upon. | |
On us be all the blame. | |
A curse on him! | |
Please don't tell on her and get her in trouble. | |
He turned on her and has been her enemy ever since. | |
He went all honest on me, making me listen to his confession. | |
41. v. (transitive, Singapore, Philippines) to switch on | |
Can you on the light? | |
42. prep. (UK dialectal, Scotland) Without. | |
43. n. In the Japanese language, a pronunciation, or reading, of a kanji character that was originally based on the character's pronunciation in Chinese, contrasted with kun. | |
Most kanji have two kinds of reading, called "on" and "kun". | |
duty |
1. n. That which one is morally or legally obligated to do. | |
We don't have a duty to keep you here. | |
2. n. The state of being at work and responsible for or doing a particular task. | |
I’m on duty from 6 pm to 6 am. | |
3. n. A tax placed on imports or exports; a tariff. | |
customs duty; excise duty | |
4. n. (obsolete) One's due, something one is owed; a debt or fee. | |
5. n. (obsolete) Respect; reverence; regard; act of respect; homage. | |
6. n. The efficiency of an engine, especially a steam pumping engine, as measured by work done by a certain quantity of fuel; usually, the number of pounds of water lifted one foot by one bushel of coal (94 | |