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. | |
rule |
1. n. A regulation, law, guideline. | |
All participants must adhere to the rules. | |
2. n. A ruler; device for measuring, a straightedge, a measure. | |
3. n. A straight line (continuous mark, as made by a pen or the like), especially one lying across a paper as a guide for writing. | |
4. n. A regulating principle. | |
5. n. The act of ruling; administration of law; government; empire; authority; control. | |
6. n. A normal condition or state of affairs. | |
My rule is to rise at six o'clock. | |
As a rule, our senior editors are serious-minded. | |
7. n. (obsolete) Conduct; behaviour. | |
8. n. (legal) An order regulating the practice of the courts, or an order made between parties to an action or a suit. | |
9. n. (math) A determinate method prescribed for performing any operation and producing a certain result. | |
a rule for extracting the cube root | |
10. n. (printing, dated) A thin plate of brass or other metal, of the same height as the type, and used for printing lines, as between columns on the same page, or in tabular work. | |
11. v. To regulate, be in charge of, make decisions for, reign over. | |
12. v. (slang) To excel. | |
This game rules! | |
13. v. To mark (paper or the like) with rules (lines). | |
14. v. (intransitive) To decide judicially. | |
15. v. To establish or settle by, or as by, a rule; to fix by universal or general consent, or by common practice. | |
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 | |
which |
1. det. (interrogative) What, of those mentioned or implied. | |
Which song made the charts? | |
2. det. (relative) The one or ones that. | |
Show me which one is bigger. | |
They couldn't decide which song to play. | |
3. det. (relative) The one or ones mentioned. | |
He once owned a painting of the house, which painting would later be stolen. | |
For several seconds he sat in silence, during which time the tea and sandwiches arrived. | |
I'm thinking of getting a new car, in which case I'd get a red one. | |
4. pron. (interrogative) What one or ones (of those mentioned or implied). | |
Which is bigger?; Which is which? | |
5. pron. (relative) Who; whom; what (of those mentioned or implied). | |
He walked by a door with a sign, which read: PRIVATE OFFICE. | |
We've met some problems which are very difficult to handle. | |
He had to leave, which was very difficult. | |
No art can be properly understood apart from the culture of which it is a part. | |
6. pron. (relative, archaic) Used of people (now generally who, whom or that). | |
7. n. An occurrence of the word which. | |
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. | |
descent |
1. n. An instance of descending; act of coming down. | |
We climbed the mountain with difficulty, but the descent was easier. | |
2. n. A way down. | |
We had difficulty in finding the correct descent. | |
3. n. A sloping passage or incline. | |
The descent into the cavern was wet and slippery. | |
4. n. Lineage or hereditary derivation. | |
Our guide was of Welsh descent. | |
After that, the holiday went into a steep descent. | |
5. n. A falling upon or invasion. | |
6. n. (topology) A particular extension of the idea of gluing. See Descent (mathematics). | |
Is |
1. n. plural of I | |
2. v. third-person singular present indicative of be | |
He is a doctor. He retired some time ago. | |
Should he do the task, it is vital that you follow him. | |
3. n. plural of i | |
remember to dot your is | |
be |
1. v. (intransitive, now literary) To exist; to have real existence. | |
2. v. (with there, or dialectally it, as dummy subject) To exist. | |
There is just one woman in town who can help us. (or, dialectally:) It is just one woman in town who can help us. | |
3. v. (intransitive) To occupy a place. | |
The cup is on the table. | |
4. v. (intransitive) To occur, to take place. | |
When will the meeting be? | |
5. v. (intransitive, in perfect tenses, without predicate) Elliptical form of "be here", "go to and return from" or similar. | |
The postman has been today, but my tickets have still not yet come. | |
I have been to Spain many times. | |
Moscow, huh? I've never been, but it sounds fascinating. | |
6. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to indicate that the subject and object are the same. | |
Knowledge is bliss. | |
Hi, I’m Jim. | |
7. v. (transitive, copulative, mathematics) Used to indicate that the values on either side of an equation are the same. | |
3 times 5 is fifteen. | |
8. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to indicate that the subject plays the role of the predicate nominal. | |
François Mitterrand was president of France from 1981 to 1995. | |
9. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to connect a noun to an adjective that describes it. | |
The sky is blue. | |
10. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by a noun or noun phrase. | |
The sky is a deep blue today. | |
11. v. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form the passive voice. | |
The dog was drowned by the boy. | |
12. v. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form the continuous forms of various tenses. | |
The woman is walking. | |
I shall be writing to you soon. | |
We liked to chat while we were eating. | |
13. v. (archaic, auxiliary) Used to form the perfect aspect with certain intransitive verbs, most of which indicate motion. Often still used for "to go". | |
14. v. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form future tenses, especially the future periphrastic. | |
I am to leave tomorrow. | |
I would drive you, were I to obtain a car. | |
15. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to link a subject to a measurement. | |
This building is three hundred years old. | |
I am 75 kilograms. | |
He’s about 6 feet tall. | |
16. v. (transitive, copulative, with a cardinal numeral) Used to state the age of a subject in years. | |
I’m 20. (= I am 20 years old.) | |
17. v. (with a dummy subject) it Used to indicate the time of day. | |
It is almost eight. (= It is almost eight o’clock.) | |
It’s 8:30 read eight-thirty in Tokyo. | |
What time is it there? It’s night. | |
18. v. (With since) Used to indicate passage of time since the occurrence of an event. | |
It has been three years since my grandmother died. (similar to My grandmother died three years ago, but emphasizes the intervening period) | |
It had been six days since his departure, when I received a letter from him. | |
19. v. (often, impersonal, with it as a dummy subject) Used to indicate weather, air quality, or the like. | |
It is hot in Arizona, but it is not usually humid. | |
Why is it so dark in here? | |
20. v. (dynamic/lexical "be", especially in progressive tenses, conjugated non-suppletively in the present tense, see usage notes) To exist or behave in a certain way. | |
"What do we do?" "We be ourselves.". | |
Why is he being nice to me? | |
fixed |
1. v. simple past tense and past participle of fix | |
2. adj. Not changing, not able to be changed, staying the same. | |
fixed assets | |
I work fixed hours for a fixed salary. | |
Every religion has its own fixed ideas. | |
He looked at me with a fixed glare. | |
3. adj. Stationary. | |
4. adj. Attached; affixed. | |
5. adj. Chemically stable. | |
6. adj. Supplied with what one needs. | |
She's nicely fixed after two divorce settlements. | |
7. adj. (legal) Of sound, recorded on a permanent medium. | |
In the United States, recordings are only granted copyright protection when the sounds in the recording were fixed and first published on or after February 15, 1972. | |
8. adj. (dialectal, informal) Surgically rendered infertile (spayed, neutered or castrated). | |
a fixed tomcat; the she-cat has been fixed | |
9. adj. Rigged; fraudulently prearranged. | |
10. adj. (of a problem) Resolved; corrected. | |
11. adj. Repaired | |
fix |
1. n. A repair or corrective action. | |
That plumber's fix is much better than the first one's. | |
2. n. A difficult situation; a quandary or dilemma. | |
It rained before we repaired the roof, and were we in a fix! | |
3. n. (informal) A single dose of an addictive drug administered to a drug user. | |
4. n. A prearrangement of the outcome of a supposedly competitive process, such as a sporting event, a game, an election, a trial, or a bid. | |
5. n. A determination of location. | |
We have a fix on your position. | |
6. n. (US) fettlings (mixture used to line a furnace) | |
7. v. (transitive, obsolete) To pierce; now generally replaced by transfix. | |
8. v. (transitive, by extension) (Of a piercing look) to direct at someone. | |
He fixed me with a sickly grin, and said, "I told you it wouldn't work!". | |
9. v. To attach; to affix; to hold in place or at a particular time. | |
A dab of chewing gum will fix your note to the bulletin board. | |
A leech can fix itself to your skin without you feeling it. | |
The Constitution fixes the date when Congress must meet. | |
10. v. (transitive figuratively, usually in the passive) To focus or determine (oneself, on a concept); to fixate. | |
She's fixed on the idea of becoming a doctor. | |
11. v. To mend, to repair. | |
That heater will start a fire if you don't fix it. | |
12. v. (transitive, informal) To prepare (food). | |
She fixed dinner for the kids. | |
13. v. To make (a contest, vote, or gamble) unfair; to privilege one contestant or a particular group of contestants, usually before the contest begins; to arrange immunity for defendants by tam | |
A majority of voters believed the election was fixed in favor of the incumbent. | |
14. v. (transitive, US, informal) To surgically render an animal, especially a pet, infertile. | |
Rover stopped digging under the fence after we had the vet fix him. | |
15. v. (transitive, mathematics, sematics) To map a (point or subset) to itself. | |
16. v. (transitive, informal) To take revenge on, to best; to serve justice on an assumed miscreant. | |
He got caught breaking into lockers, so a couple of guys fixed him after work. | |
17. v. To render (a photographic impression) permanent by treating with such applications as will make it insensitive to the action of light. | |
18. v. (transitive, chemistry, biology) To convert into a stable or available form. | |
Legumes are valued in crop rotation for their ability to fix nitrogen. | |
19. v. (intransitive) To become fixed; to settle or remain permanently; to cease from wandering; to rest. | |
20. v. (intransitive) To become firm, so as to resist volatilization; to cease to flow or be fluid; to congeal; to become hard and malleable, as a metallic substance. | |