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 | |
subdue |
1. v. To overcome, quieten, or bring under control. | |
2. v. To bring (a country) under control by force. | |
someone |
1. pron. Some person. | |
Can someone help me, please? | |
2. n. A partially specified but unnamed person. | |
Do you need a gift for that special someone? | |
3. n. an important person | |
He thinks he has become someone. | |
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 | |
superior |
1. adj. Higher in quality. | |
Rebecca had always thought shorts were far superior to pants, as they didn't constantly make her legs itch. | |
2. adj. Higher in rank. | |
3. adj. More comprehensive, as a term in classification. | |
A genus is superior to a species. | |
4. adj. Located above. | |
the superior jaw; the superior part of an image | |
5. adj. (botany) Above the ovary; said of parts of the flower which, although normally below the ovary, adhere to it, and so appear to originate from its upper | |
6. adj. (botany) Belonging to the part of an axillary flower which is toward the main stem; posterior. | |
7. adj. (botany) Pointing toward the apex of the fruit; ascending; said of the radicle. | |
8. adj. (typography) Printed in superscript. | |
a superior figure or letter | |
9. adj. Greater or better than average; extraordinary. | |
10. adj. Beyond the power or influence of; too great or firm to be subdued or affected by; with to. | |
11. adj. Of a planet: closer to the Earth than to the sun. | |
12. n. A person of higher rank or quality. | |
13. n. The senior person in a monastic community. | |
force |
1. n. Strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigour; might; capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect. | |
the force of an appeal, an argument, or a contract | |
2. n. Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion. | |
3. n. Anything that is able to make a big change in a person or thing. | |
4. n. (physics) A physical quantity that denotes ability to push, pull, twist or accelerate a body which is measured in a unit dimensioned in mass × distance/time² (ML/T²): SI: newton (N); CGS: dyne (dyn) | |
5. n. Something or anything that has the power to produce an effect upon something else. | |
6. n. A group that aims to attack, control, or constrain. | |
police force | |
7. n. The ability to attack, control, or constrain. | |
show of force | |
8. n. A magic trick in which the outcome is known to the magician beforehand, especially one involving the apparent free choice of a card by another person. | |
9. n. (legal) Legal validity. | |
The law will come into force in January. | |
10. n. (legal) Either unlawful violence, as in a "forced entry", or lawful compulsion. | |
11. n. (linguistics, semantics, pragmatics) Ability of an utterance or its element (word, form, prosody, ...) to effect a given meaning. | |
12. n. (science fiction) A binding, metaphysical, and ubiquitous power in the fictional Star Wars universe created by George Lucas. | |
13. v. To violate (a woman); to rape. | |
14. v. (obsolete, reflexive, intransitive) To exert oneself, to do one's utmost. | |
15. v. To compel (someone or something) to do something. | |
16. v. To constrain by force; to overcome the limitations or resistance of. | |
17. v. To drive (something) by force, to propel (generally + prepositional phrase or adverb). | |
18. v. To cause to occur (despite inertia, resistance etc.); to produce through force. | |
The comedian's jokes weren't funny, but I forced a laugh now and then. | |
19. v. To forcibly open (a door, lock etc.). | |
To force a lock. | |
20. v. To obtain or win by strength; to take by violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm, as a fortress. | |
21. v. (transitive, baseball) To create an out by touching a base in advance of a runner who has no base to return to while in possession of a ball which has already touched the ground. | |
Jones forced the runner at second by stepping on the bag. | |
22. v. (whist) To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a trick by leading a suit that he/she does not hold. | |
23. v. (archaic) To put in force; to cause to be executed; to make binding; to enforce. | |
24. v. (archaic) To provide with forces; to reinforce; to strengthen by soldiers; to man; to garrison. | |
25. v. (obsolete) To allow the force of; to value; to care for. | |
26. n. (Northern England) A waterfall or cascade. | |
27. v. To stuff; to lard; to farce. | |