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 | |
say |
1. v. To pronounce. | |
Please say your name slowly and clearly. | |
2. v. To recite. | |
Martha, will you say the Pledge of Allegiance? | |
3. v. To tell, either verbally or in writing. | |
He said he would be here tomorrow. | |
4. v. To indicate in a written form. | |
The sign says it’s 50 kilometres to Paris. | |
5. v. (impersonal) To have a common expression; used in singular passive voice or plural active voice to indicate a rumor or well-known fact. | |
They say "when in Rome, do as the Romans do", which means "behave as those around you do.". | |
6. v. (informal, imperative) Suppose, assume; used to mark an example, supposition or hypothesis. | |
A holiday somewhere warm – Florida, say – would be nice. | |
Say he refuses. What do we do then? | |
Say your family is starving and you don't have any money, is it ok to steal some food? | |
7. v. (intransitive) To speak; to express an opinion; to make answer; to reply. | |
8. v. (transitive, informal, of a possession, especially money) To bet as a wager on an outcome; by extension, used to express belief in an outcome by the speaker. | |
9. n. A chance to speak; the right or power to influence or make a decision. | |
10. adv. For example; let us assume. | |
Pick a color you think they'd like, say, peach. | |
He was driving pretty fast, say, fifty miles per hour. | |
11. interj. (colloquial) Used to gain one's attention before making an inquiry or suggestion | |
Say, what did you think about the movie? | |
12. n. A type of fine cloth similar to serge. | |
13. v. To try; to assay. | |
14. n. Trial by sample; assay; specimen. | |
15. n. Tried quality; temper; proof. | |
16. n. Essay; trial; attempt. | |
17. n. (Scotland) A strainer for milk. | |
while |
1. n. An uncertain duration of time, a period of time. | |
He lectured for quite a long while. | |
2. conj. During the same time that. | |
He was sleeping while I was singing. | |
3. conj. Although. | |
This case, while interesting, is a bit frustrating. | |
4. conj. (Northern England, Scotland) Until. | |
I'll wait while you've finished painting. | |
5. conj. As long as. | |
While you're at school you may live at home. | |
6. prep. (Northern England, Scotland) Until. | |
7. v. To pass (time) idly. | |
8. v. To loiter. | |
yawning |
1. v. present participle of yawn | |
2. n. The action of the verb yawn. | |
3. adj. That yawns or yawn. | |
yawning commuters | |
4. adj. (figuratively) Wide open. | |
a yawning chasm; the shark's yawning jaws | |
yawn |
1. v. To open the mouth widely and take a long, rather deep breath, often because one is tired or bored, and sometimes accompanied by pandiculation. | |
I could see my students yawning, so I knew the lesson was boring them. | |
2. v. To say while yawning. | |
3. v. To present a wide opening. | |
The canyon yawns as it has done for millions of years, and we stand looking, dumbstruck. | |
Death yawned before us, and I hit the brakes. | |
4. v. (obsolete) To open the mouth, or to gape, through surprise or bewilderment. | |
5. v. (obsolete) To be eager; to desire to swallow anything; to express desire by yawning. | |
to yawn for fat livings | |
6. n. The action of yawning; opening the mouth widely and taking a long, rather deep breath, often because one is tired or bored. | |
7. n. (colloquial) A particularly boring event. | |
The slideshow we sat through was such a yawn. I was glad when it finished. | |