two |
1. num. (cardinal) A numerical value equal to 2; this many dots (••). Ordinal: second. | |
2. num. Describing a set or group with two elements. | |
3. n. The digit/figure 2. | |
The number 2202 contains three twos. | |
4. n. (US, informal) A two-dollar bill. | |
5. n. A child aged two. | |
This toy is suitable for the twos and threes. | |
6. n. The playing cards featuring two pips. | |
similar |
1. adj. Having traits or characteristics in common; alike, comparable. | |
2. adj. (mathematics) Of geometrical figures including triangles, squares, ellipses, arcs and more complex figures, having the same shape but possibly different size, rotational orientation, and position; in | |
3. n. That which is similar to, or resembles, something else, as in quality, form, etc. | |
4. n. (homeopathy) A material that produces an effect that resembles the symptoms of a particular disease. | |
or |
1. conj. Connects at least two alternative words, phrases, clauses, sentences, etc. each of which could make a passage true. In English, this is the "inclusive or." The "exclusive or" is formed by "either(...) | |
In Ohio, anyone under the age of 18 who wants a tattoo or body piercing needs the consent of a parent or guardian. | |
He might get cancer, or be hit by a bus, or God knows what. | |
2. conj. (logic) An operator denoting the disjunction of two propositions or truth values. There are two forms, the inclusive or and the exclusive or. | |
3. conj. Counts the elements before and after as two possibilities. | |
4. conj. Otherwise (a consequence of the condition that the previous is false). | |
It's raining! Come inside or you'll catch a cold! | |
5. conj. Connects two equivalent names. | |
The country Myanmar, or Burma | |
6. n. (logic, electronics) alternative form of OR | |
7. n. (tincture) The gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms. | |
8. adj. (tincture) Of gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms. | |
9. adv. (obsolete) Early (on). | |
10. adv. (obsolete) Earlier, previously. | |
11. prep. (now archaic, or dialect) Before; ere. | |
identical |
1. adj. (not comparable) Bearing full likeness by having precisely the same set of characteristics; indistinguishable. | |
2. adj. (not comparable) Not different or other; not another or others; not different as regards self; selfsame; numerically identical. | |
3. adj. (not comparable, biology) Of twins, sharing the same genetic code. | |
4. adj. (not comparable, mathematics) Exactly equivalent. | |
5. adj. (comparable, rare) Approximating or approaching exact equivalence. | |
6. adj. (seemoreCites) | |
7. n. (usually pluralized chiefly philosophy) Something which has exactly the same properties as something else. | |
8. n. An identical twin. | |
Things |
1. n. plural of Thing | |
2. n. plural of thing | |
3. n. One's clothes, furniture, luggage, or possessions collectively; stuff | |
Have you brought all your things with you? | |
Get your hands off my things! | |
4. v. third-person singular present indicative of thing | |
thing |
1. n. That which is considered to exist as a separate entity, object, quality or concept. | |
2. n. A word, symbol, sign, or other referent that can be used to refer to any entity. | |
3. n. An individual object or distinct entity. | |
4. n. (informal) Something that is existent or generally recognised. | |
Bacon pie? Is that a thing? | |
5. n. legal | |
6. n. Whatever can be owned. | |
7. n. Corporeal object. | |
8. n. (somewhat dated) The latest fad or fashion. | |
What do you mean you don't twerk, Stacy? It's the latest thing! | |
9. n. (in the plural) Clothes, possessions or equipment. | |
Hold on, let me just grab my things. | |
10. n. (informal) A unit or container, usually containing edible goods. | |
get me a thing of apple juice at the store; I just ate a whole thing of jelly beans | |
11. n. (informal) A problem, dilemma, or complicating factor. | |
The car looks cheap, but the thing is, I have doubts about its safety. | |
12. n. (slang) A penis. | |
13. n. A living being or creature. | |
you poor thing; she's a funny old thing, but her heart's in the right place; I met a pretty blond thing at the bar | |
14. n. That which matters; the crux. | |
that's the thing: we don't know where he went; the thing is, I don't have any money | |
15. n. Used after a noun to refer dismissively to the situation surrounding the noun's referent. | |
Oh yeah, I'm supposed to promote that vision thing. | |
16. n. (informal) That which is favoured; personal preference. (Used in possessive constructions.) | |
17. n. (chiefly historical) A public assembly or judicial council in a Germanic country. | |
18. v. (rare) To express as a thing; to reify. | |
taken |
1. adj. Infatuated; fond of or attracted to. | |
He was very taken with the girl, I hear. | |
2. adj. (informal) In a serious romantic relationship. | |
I can't ask her out, she's taken. | |
3. v. past participle of take | |
take |
1. v. To get into one's hands, possession or control, with or without force. | |
They took Charlton's gun from his cold, dead hands. | |
I'll take that plate off the table. | |
2. v. To seize or capture. | |
take the guards prisoner | |
take prisoners | |
After a bloody battle, they were able to take the city. | |
3. v. To catch or get possession of (fish or game). | |
took ten catfish in one afternoon | |
4. v. (transitive, cricket) To catch the ball; especially as a wicket-keeper and after the batsman has missed or edged it. | |
5. v. To appropriate or transfer into one's own possession, sometimes by physically carrying off. | |
Billy took her pencil. | |
6. v. To exact. | |
take a toll | |
take revenge | |
7. v. To capture or win (a piece or trick) in a game. | |
took the next two tricks | |
took Smith's rook | |
8. v. To receive or accept (something) (especially something given or bestowed, awarded, etc). | |
took third place | |
took bribes | |
The camera takes 35mm film. | |
9. v. To receive or accept (something) as payment or compensation. | |
The store doesn't take checks. | |
She wouldn't take any money for her help. | |
Do you take credit? | |
The vending machine only takes bills, it doesn't take coins. | |
10. v. To accept and follow (advice, etc). | |
take my advice | |
11. v. To receive into some relationship. | |
take a wife | |
The school only takes new students in the fall. | |
The therapist wouldn't take him as a client. | |
12. v. (transitive, intransitive, legal) To receive or acquire (property) by law (e.g. as an heir). | |
13. v. To remove. | |
take two eggs from the carton | |
14. v. To remove or end by death; to kill. | |
The earthquake took many lives. | |
The plague took rich and poor alike. | |
Cancer took her life. | |
He took his life last night. | |
15. v. To subtract. | |
take one from three and you are left with two | |
16. v. To have sex with. | |
17. v. To defeat (someone or something) in a fight. | |
Don't try to take that guy. He's bigger than you. | |
The woman guarding us looks like a professional, but I can take her! | |
18. v. To grasp or grip. | |
He took her hand in his. | |
19. v. To select or choose; to pick. | |
Take whichever bag you like. | |
She took the best men with her and left the rest to garrison the city. | |
I'll take the blue plates. | |
I'll take two sugars in my coffee, please. | |
20. v. To adopt (select) as one's own. | |
She took his side in every argument. | |
take a stand on the important issues | |
21. v. To carry or lead (something or someone). | |
She took her sword with her everywhere she went. | |
I'll take the plate with me. | |
22. v. (transitive, especially of a vehicle) To transport or carry; to convey to another place. | |
The next bus will take you to Metz. | |
I took him for a ride | |
I took him down to London. | |
23. v. (transitive, of a path, road, etc.) To lead (to a place); to serve as a means of reaching. | |
These stairs take you down to the basement. | |
Stone Street took us right past the store. | |
24. v. To pass (or attempt to pass) through or around. | |
She took the steps two or three at a time/ | |
He took the curve / corner too fast. | |
The pony took every hedge and fence in its path. | |
25. v. To escort or conduct (a person). | |
He took her to lunch at the new restaurant, took her to the movies, and then took her home. | |
26. v. (reflexive) To go. | |
27. v. To use as a means of transportation. | |
take the ferry | |
I took a plane. | |
He took the bus to London, and then took a train to Manchester. | |
He's 96 but he still takes the stairs. | |
28. v. (obsolete) To visit; to include in a course of travel. | |
29. v. To obtain for use by payment or lease. | |
She took a condo at the beach for the summer. | |
He took a full-page ad in the Times. | |
30. v. To obtain or receive regularly by (paid) subscription. | |
They took two magazines. | |
I used to take The Sunday Times. | |
31. v. To consume. | |
32. v. To receive (medicine) into one's body, e.g. by inhalation or swallowing; to ingest. | |
take two of these and call me in the morning | |
take the blue pill | |
I take aspirin every day to thin my blood. | |
33. v. To partake of (food or drink); to consume. | |
The general took dinner at seven o'clock. | |
34. v. To experience, undergo, or endure. | |
35. v. To undergo; to put oneself into, to be subjected to. | |
take sun-baths | |
take a shower | |
She made the decision to take chemotherapy. | |
36. v. To experience or feel. | |
She takes pride in her work. | |
together |
1. adv. At the same time, in the same place; in close association or proximity. | |
We went to school together. | |
2. adv. Into one place; into a single thing; combined. | |
He put all the parts together. | |
3. adv. In a relationship or partnership, for example a business relationship or a romantic partnership. | |
Bob and Andy went into business together. Jenny and Mark have been together since they went on holiday to Mexico. | |
4. adj. (colloquial) Coherent; well organized. | |
He's really together. | |
often |
1. adv. Frequently, many times. | |
I often walk to work when the weather is nice. | |
I've been going to the movies more often since a new theatre opened near me. | |
2. adj. (archaic) Frequent. | |
followed |
1. v. simple past tense and past participle of follow | |
follow |
1. v. To go after; to pursue; to move behind in the same path or direction. | |
Follow that car! | |
2. v. To go or come after in a sequence. | |
B follows A in the alphabet. | |
We both ordered the soup, with roast beef to follow. | |
3. v. To carry out (orders, instructions, etc.). | |
Follow these instructions to the letter. | |
4. v. To live one's life according to (religion, teachings, etc). | |
5. v. To understand, to pay attention to. | |
Do you follow me? | |
6. v. To watch, to keep track of (reports of) some event or person. | |
I followed the incumbent throughout the election. | |
My friends don't regularly follow the news. | |
7. v. To be a logical consequence of. | |
It follows that if two numbers are not equal then one is larger than the other. | |
8. v. To walk in, as a road or course; to attend upon closely, as a profession or calling. | |
9. n. (sometimes attributive) In billiards and similar games, a stroke causing a ball to follow another ball after hitting it. | |
a follow shot | |
10. n. (internet) The act of following another user's online activity. | |
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 | |
of |
1. prep. Expressing distance or motion. | |
2. prep. (now obsolete, or dialectal) From (of distance, direction), "off". | |
3. prep. (obsolete except in phrases) Since, from (a given time, earlier state etc.). | |
4. prep. From, away from (a position, number, distance etc.). | |
There are no shops within twenty miles of the cottage. | |
5. prep. (North America, Scotland, Ireland) Before (the hour); to. | |
What's the time? / Nearly a quarter of three. | |
6. prep. Expressing separation. | |
7. prep. (Indicating removal, absence or separation, with the action indicated by a transitive verb and the quality or substance by a grammatical object.) | |
Finally she was relieved of the burden of caring for her sick husband. | |
8. prep. (Indicating removal, absence or separation, with resulting state indicated by an adjective.) | |
He seemed devoid of human feelings. | |
9. prep. (obsolete) (Indicating removal, absence or separation, construed with an intransitive verb.) | |
10. prep. Expressing origin. | |
11. prep. (Indicating an ancestral source or origin of descent.) | |
The word is believed to be of Japanese origin. | |
12. prep. (Indicating a (non-physical) source of action or emotion; introducing a cause, instigation); from, out of, as an expression of. | |
The invention was born of necessity. | |
13. prep. (following an intransitive verb) (Indicates the source or cause of the verb.) | |
It is said that she died of a broken heart. | |
14. prep. (following an adjective) (Indicates the subject or cause of the adjective.) | |
I am tired of all this nonsense. | |
15. prep. Expressing agency. | |
16. prep. (following a passive verb) (Indicates the agent (for most verbs, now usually expressed with by).) | |
I am not particularly enamoured of this idea. | |
17. prep. (Used to introduce the "subjective genitive"; following a noun to form the head of a postmodifying noun phrase) (see also 'Possession' senses below). | |
The contract can be terminated at any time with the agreement of both parties. | |
18. prep. (following an adjective) (Used to indicate the agent of something described by the adjective.) | |
It was very brave of you to speak out like that. | |
19. prep. Expressing composition, substance. | |
20. prep. (after a verb expressing construction, making etc.) (Used to indicate the material or substance used.) | |
Many 'corks' are now actually made of plastic. | |
21. prep. (directly following a noun) (Used to indicate the material of the just-mentioned object.) | |
She wore a dress of silk. | |
22. prep. (Indicating the composition of a given collective or quantitative noun.) | |
What a lot of nonsense! | |
23. prep. (Used to link a given class of things with a specific example of that class.) | |
Welcome to the historic town of Harwich. | |
24. prep. (Links two nouns in near-apposition, with the first qualifying the second); "which is also". | |
I'm not driving this wreck of a car. | |
25. prep. Introducing subject matter. | |
26. prep. (Links an intransitive verb, or a transitive verb and its subject (especially verbs to do with thinking, feeling, expressing etc.), with its subject-ma | |
I'm always thinking of you. | |
27. prep. (following a noun (now chiefly nouns of knowledge, communication etc.)) (Introduces its subject matter); about, concerning. | |
He told us the story of his journey to India. | |
28. prep. (following an adjective) (Introduces its subject matter.) | |
This behaviour is typical of teenagers. | |
29. prep. Having partitive effect. | |
30. prep. (following a number or other quantitive word) (Introduces the whole for which is indicated only the specified part or segment); "from among". | |
Most of these apples are rotten. | |
31. prep. (following a noun) (Indicates a given part.) | |
32. prep. (now archaic, literary, with preceding partitive word assumed, or as a predicate after to be) Some, an amount of, one of. | |
On the whole, they seem to be of the decent sort. | |
33. prep. (Links to a genitive noun or possessive pronoun, with partitive effect (though now often merged with possessive senses, below).) | |
He is a friend of mine. | |
34. prep. Expressing possession. | |
35. prep. Belonging to, existing in, or taking place in a given location, place or time. Compare "origin" senses, above. | |
He was perhaps the most famous scientist of the twentieth century. | |
36. prep. Belonging to (a place) through having title, ownership or control over it. | |
The owner of the nightclub was arrested. | |
37. prep. Belonging to (someone or something) as something they possess or have as a characteristic; (the "possessive genitive". (With abstract nouns, this inter | |
Keep the handle of the saucepan away from the flames. | |
38. prep. Forming the "objective genitive". | |
39. prep. (Follows an agent noun, verbal noun or noun of action.) | |
She had a profound distrust of the police. | |
40. prep. Expressing qualities or characteristics. | |
41. prep. (now archaic, or literary) (Links an adjective with a noun or noun phrase to form a quasi-adverbial qualifier); in respect to, as regards. | |
My companion seemed affable and easy of manner. | |
42. prep. (Indicates a quality or characteristic); "characterized by". | |
Pooh was said to be a bear of very little brain. | |
43. prep. (Indicates quantity, age, price, etc.) | |
We have been paying interest at a rate of 10%. | |
44. prep. (US, informal considered incorrect by some) (Used to link singular indefinite nouns (preceded by the indefinite article) and attributive adjectives mod | |
It's not that big of a deal. | |
45. prep. Expressing a point in time. | |
46. prep. (chiefly regional) During the course of (a set period of time, day of the week etc.), now specifically with implied repetition or regularity. | |
Of an evening, we would often go for a stroll along the river. | |
47. prep. (UK dialectal, chiefly in negative constructions) For (a given length of time). | |
I've not tekken her out of a goodly long while. | |
48. prep. (after a noun) (Indicates duration of a state, activity etc.) | |
After a delay of three hours, the plane finally took off. | |