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 | |
catch |
1. n. The act of seizing or capturing. | |
The catch of the perpetrator was the product of a year of police work. | |
2. n. The act of catching an object in motion, especially a ball. | |
The player made an impressive catch. | |
Nice catch! | |
3. n. The act of noticing, understanding or hearing. | |
Good catch. I never would have remembered that. | |
4. n. The game of catching a ball. | |
The kids love to play catch. | |
5. n. A find, in particular a boyfriend or girlfriend or prospective spouse. | |
Did you see his latest catch? | |
He's a good catch. | |
6. n. Something which is captured or caught. (jump, quantity captured, s) | |
The fishermen took pictures of their catch. | |
The catch amounted to five tons of swordfish. | |
7. n. A stopping mechanism, especially a clasp which stops something from opening. | |
She installed a sturdy catch to keep her cabinets closed tight. | |
8. n. A hesitation in voice, caused by strong emotion. | |
There was a catch in his voice when he spoke his father's name. | |
9. n. (sometimes noun adjunct) A concealed difficulty, especially in a deal or negotiation. | |
It sounds like a great idea, but what's the catch? | |
Be careful, that's a catch question. | |
10. n. A crick; a sudden muscle pain during unaccustomed positioning when the muscle is in use. | |
I bent over to see under the table and got a catch in my side. | |
11. n. A fragment of music or poetry. | |
12. n. (obsolete) A state of readiness to capture or seize; an ambush. | |
13. n. (agriculture) A crop which has germinated and begun to grow. | |
14. n. (obsolete) A type of strong boat, usually having two masts; a ketch. | |
15. n. (music) A type of humorous round in which the voices gradually catch up with one another; usually sung by men and often having bawdy lyrics. | |
16. n. (music) The refrain; a line or lines of a song which are repeated from verse to verse. | |
17. n. (cricket, baseball) The act of catching a hit ball before it reaches the ground, resulting in an out. | |
18. n. (cricket) A player in respect of his catching ability; particularly one who catches well. | |
19. n. (rowing) The first contact of an oar with the water. | |
20. n. (phonetics) A stoppage of breath, resembling a slight cough. | |
21. n. Passing opportunities seized; snatches. | |
22. n. A slight remembrance; a trace. | |
23. v. To capture, overtake.: | |
24. v. To capture or snare (someone or something which would rather escape). | |
I hope I catch a fish. He ran but we caught him at the exit. The police caught the robber at a nearby casino. | |
25. v. To entrap or trip up a person; to deceive. | |
26. v. (transitive figuratively, dated) To marry or enter into a similar relationship with. | |
27. v. To reach (someone) with a strike, blow, weapon etc. | |
If he catches you on the chin, you'll be on the mat. | |
28. v. To overtake or catch up to; to be in time for. | |
If you leave now you might catch him. I would love to have dinner but I have to catch a plane. | |
29. v. To unpleasantly discover unexpectedly; to unpleasantly surprise (someone doing something). | |
He was caught on video robbing the bank. He was caught in the act of stealing a biscuit. | |
30. v. To travel by means of. | |
catch the bus | |
31. v. (transitive, rare) To become pregnant. (Only in past tense or as participle.) | |
32. v. To seize hold of.: | |
33. v. (transitive, dated) To grab, seize, take hold of. | |
I caught her by the arm and turned her to face me. | |
34. v. To take or replenish something necessary, such as breath or sleep. | |
I have to stop for a moment and catch my breath. I caught some Z's on the train. | |
35. v. To grip or entangle. | |
My leg was caught in a tree-root. | |
36. v. (intransitive) To be held back or impeded. | |
Be careful your dress doesn't catch on that knob. His voice caught when he came to his father's name. | |
37. v. (intransitive) To engage with some mechanism; to stick, to succeed in interacting with something or initiating some process. | |
Push it in until it catches. The engine finally caught and roared to life. | |
38. v. To have something be held back or impeded. | |
I caught my heel on the threshold. | |
39. v. (intransitive) To make a grasping or snatching motion (at). | |
He caught at the railing as he fell. | |
40. v. Of fire, to spread or be conveyed to. | |
The fire spread slowly until it caught the eaves of the barn. | |
41. v. (transitive, rowing) To grip (the water) with one's oars at the beginning of the stroke. | |
42. v. (intransitive, agriculture) To germinate and set down roots. | |
The seeds caught and grew. | |
43. v. (transitive, surfing) To contact a wave in such a way that one can ride it back to shore. | |
44. v. (transitive, computing) To handle an exception. | |
When the program catches an exception, this is recorded in the log file. | |
45. v. To intercept.: | |
46. v. To seize or intercept an object moving through the air (or, sometimes, some other medium). | |
I will throw you the ball, and you catch it. Watch me catch this raisin in my mouth. | |
47. v. (transitive, now rare) To seize (an opportunity) when it occurs. | |
48. v. (transitive, cricket) To end a player's innings by catching a hit ball before the first bounce. | |
Townsend hit 29 before he was caught by Wilson. | |
49. v. (transitive, intransitive, baseball) To play (a specific period of time) as the catcher. | |
He caught the last three innings. | |
50. v. To receive (by being in the way).: | |
51. v. To be the victim of (something unpleasant, painful etc.). | |
You're going to catch a beating if they find out. | |
52. v. To be touched or affected by (something) through exposure. | |
The sunlight caught the leaves and the trees turned to gold. Her hair was caught by the light breeze. | |
53. v. To be infected by (an illness). | |
Everyone seems to be catching the flu this week. | |
54. v. (intransitive) To spread by infection or similar means. | |
55. v. (transitive, intransitive) To receive or be affected by (wind, water, fire etc.). | |
The bucket catches water from the downspout. The trees caught quickly in the dry wind. | |
56. v. To acquire, as though by infection; to take on through sympathy or infection. | |
She finally caught the mood of the occasion. | |
57. v. To be hit by something. | |
He caught a bullet in the back of the head last year. | |
58. v. (intransitive) To serve well or poorly for catching, especially for catching fish. | |
59. v. (intransitive,) To get pregnant. | |
Well, if you didn't catch this time, we'll have more fun trying again until you do. | |
60. v. To take in with one's senses or intellect.: | |
61. v. To grasp mentally: perceive and understand. | |
in |
1. prep. Used to indicate location, inclusion, or position within spatial, temporal or other limits. | |
2. prep. Contained by. | |
The dog is in the kennel. | |
3. prep. Within. | |
4. prep. Surrounded by. | |
We are in the enemy camp. Her plane is in the air. | |
5. prep. Part of; a member of. | |
One in a million. She's in band and orchestra. | |
6. prep. Pertaining to; with regard to. | |
What grade did he get in English? | |
Military letters should be formal in tone, but not stilted. | |
7. prep. At the end of a period of time. | |
They said they would call us in a week. | |
8. prep. Within a certain elapsed time | |
Are you able to finish this in three hours? The massacre resulted in over 1000 deaths in three hours. | |
9. prep. During (said of periods of time). | |
in the first week of December; Easter falls in the fourth lunar month; The country reached a high level of prosperity in his fi | |
10. prep. (grammar, phonetics, of sounds and letters) Coming at the end of a word. | |
English nouns in -ce form their plurals in -s. | |
11. prep. Into. | |
Less water gets in your boots this way. | |
12. prep. Used to indicate limit, qualification, condition, or circumstance. | |
In replacing the faucet washers, he felt he was making his contribution to the environment. | |
13. prep. Indicating an order or arrangement. | |
My fat rolls around in folds. | |
14. prep. Denoting a state of the subject. | |
He stalked away in anger. John is in a coma. | |
15. prep. Indicates, connotatively, a place-like form of someone's (or something's) personality, as his, her or its psychic and physical characteristics. | |
You've got a friend in me. He's met his match in her. | |
16. prep. Wearing (an item of clothing). | |
I glanced over at the pretty girl in the red dress. | |
17. prep. Used to indicate means, medium, format, genre, or instrumentality. | |
18. prep. (of something offered or given in an exchange) In the form of, in the denomination of. | |
Please pay me in cash — preferably in tens and twenties. | |
The deposit can be in any legal tender, even in gold. | |
Her generosity was rewarded in the success of its recipients. | |
19. prep. Used to indicate a language, script, tone, etc. of a text, speech, etc. | |
Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5" in C minor is among his most popular. | |
His speech was in French, but was simultaneously translated into eight languages. | |
When you write in cursive, it's illegible. | |
20. v. (obsolete, transitive) To enclose. | |
21. v. (obsolete, transitive) To take in; to harvest. | |
22. adv. (not comparable) Located indoors, especially at home or the office, or inside something. | |
Is Mr. Smith in? | |
23. adv. Moving to the interior of a defined space, such as a building or room. | |
Suddenly a strange man walked in. | |
24. adv. (sports) Still eligible to play, e.g. able to bat in cricket and baseball. | |
He went for the wild toss but wasn't able to stay in. | |
25. adv. (UK) Abbreviation of in aid of. | |
What's that in? | |
26. adv. After the beginning of something. | |
27. n. A position of power or a way to get it. | |
His parents got him an in with the company | |
28. n. (sport) The state of a batter/batsman who is currently batting – see innings | |
29. n. A re-entrant angle; a nook or corner. | |
30. adj. In fashion; popular. | |
Skirts are in this year. | |
31. adj. Incoming. | |
the in train | |
32. adj. (nautical, of the sails of a vessel) Furled or stowed. | |
33. adj. (legal) With privilege or possession; used to denote a holding, possession, or seisin. | |
in by descent; in by purchase; in of the seisin of her husband | |
34. adj. (cricket) Currently batting. | |
35. n. Inch. | |
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. | |
mesh |
1. n. A structure made of connected strands of metal, fiber, or other flexible/ductile material, with evenly spaced openings between them. | |
2. n. The opening or space enclosed by the threads of a net between knot and knot, or the threads enclosing such a space. | |
3. n. The engagement of the teeth of wheels, or of a wheel and rack. | |
4. n. A measure of fineness (particle size) of ground material. A powder that passes through a sieve having 300 openings per linear inch but does not pass 400 openings per linear inch is said to be -300 +40 | |
5. n. (computer graphics) A polygon mesh. | |
6. v. To connect together by interlocking, as gears do. | |
7. v. (intransitive, figurative, by extension) To fit in; to come together harmoniously. | |
The music meshed well with the visuals in that film. | |
8. v. To catch in a mesh. | |