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. | |
and |
1. conj. As a coordinating conjunction; expressing two elements to be taken together or in addition to each other. | |
2. conj. Used simply to connect two noun phrases, adjectives or adverbs. | |
3. conj. Simply connecting two clauses or sentences. | |
4. conj. Introducing a clause or sentence which follows on in time or consequence from the first. | |
5. conj. (obsolete) Yet; but. | |
6. conj. Used to connect certain numbers: connecting units when they precede tens (not dated); connecting tens and units to hundreds, thousands etc. (now often | |
7. conj. (now colloquial, or literary) Used to connect more than two elements together in a chain, sometimes to stress the number of elements. | |
8. conj. Connecting two identical elements, with implications of continued or infinite repetition. | |
9. conj. Introducing a parenthetical or explanatory clause. | |
10. conj. Introducing the continuation of narration from a previous understood point; also used alone as a question: ‘and so what?’. | |
11. conj. (now regional or somewhat colloquial) Used to connect two verbs where the second is dependent on the first: ‘to’. Used especially after come, | |
12. conj. Introducing a qualitative difference between things having the same name; "as well as other". | |
13. conj. Used to combine numbers in addition; plus (with singular or plural verb). | |
14. conj. Expressing a condition.: | |
15. conj. (now US dialect) If; provided that. | |
16. conj. (obsolete) As if, as though. | |
17. n. (enm, music, often informal) In rhythm, the second half of a divided beat. | |
18. n. (UK dialectal) Breath. | |
19. n. (UK dialectal) Sea smoke; steam fog. | |
20. v. (UK dialectal, intransitive) To breathe; whisper; devise; imagine. | |
hold |
1. v. To grasp or grip. | |
Hold the pencil like this. | |
2. v. To contain or store. | |
This package holds six bottles. | |
3. v. To maintain or keep to a position or state.: | |
4. v. To have and keep possession of something. | |
Hold my coat for me. The general ordered the colonel to hold his position at all costs. | |
5. v. To reserve. | |
Hold a table for us at 7:00. | |
6. v. To cause to wait or delay. | |
Hold the elevator. | |
7. v. To detain. | |
Hold the suspect in this cell. | |
8. v. (intransitive) To be or remain valid; to apply (usually in the third person). | |
to hold true; The proposition holds. | |
9. v. To keep oneself in a particular state. | |
to hold firm; to hold opinions | |
10. v. To impose restraint upon; to limit in motion or action; to bind legally or morally; to confine; to restrain. | |
11. v. To bear, carry, or manage. | |
He holds himself proudly erect. Hold your head high. | |
12. v. (intransitive, mostly, imperative) Not to move; to halt; to stop. | |
13. v. (intransitive) Not to give way; not to part or become separated; to remain unbroken or unsubdued. | |
14. v. To remain continent; to control an excretory bodily function. | |
to hold one's bladder; to hold one's breath | |
15. v. To maintain or keep to particular opinions, promises, actions.: | |
16. v. To maintain, to consider, to opine. | |
17. v. To bind (someone) to a consequence of his or her actions. | |
He was held responsible for the actions of those under his command. I'll hold him to that promise. | |
18. v. To maintain in being or action; to carry on; to prosecute, as a course of conduct or an argument; to continue; to sustain. | |
19. v. To accept, as an opinion; to be the adherent of, openly or privately; to persist in, as a purpose; to maintain; to sustain. | |
20. v. (archaic) To restrain oneself; to refrain; to hold back. | |
21. v. (tennis, ambitransitive) To win one's own service game. | |
22. v. To take place, to occur. | |
23. v. To organise an event or meeting (usually in passive voice). | |
Elections will be held on the first Sunday of next month. | |
24. v. (archaic) To derive right or title. | |
25. n. A grasp or grip. | |
Keep a firm hold on the handlebars. | |
26. n. A place where animals are held for safety | |
27. n. An order that something is to be reserved or delayed, limiting or preventing how it can be dealt with. | |
Senator X placed a hold on the bill, then went to the library and placed a hold on a book. | |
28. n. Something reserved or kept. | |
We have a hold here for you. | |
29. n. Power over someone or something. | |
30. n. The ability to persist. | |
31. n. The property of maintaining the shape of styled hair. | |
32. n. (wrestling) A position or grip used to control the opponent. | |
He got him in a tight hold and pinned him to the mat. | |
33. n. (exercise) An exercise involving holding a position for a set time | |
34. n. (gambling) The percentage the house wins on a gamble, the house or bookmaker's hold. | |
The House Hold on the game is 10,000, this is the amount of decision or risk the house wishes to assume. | |
35. n. (gambling) The wager amount, the total hold. | |
As of Monday night the total Melbourne Cup hold was $848,015 | |
36. n. (tennis) An instance of holding one's service game, as opposed to being broken. | |
37. n. The part of an object one is intended to grasp, or anything one can use for grasping with hands or feet. | |
38. n. A fruit machine feature allowing one or more of the reels to remain fixed while the others spin. | |
39. n. (video games, dated) A pause facility. | |
40. n. The queueing system on telephones and similar communication systems which maintains a connection when all lines are busy. | |
41. n. (baseball) A statistic awarded to a relief pitcher who is not still pitching at the end of the game and who records at least one out and maintains a lead for his team. | |
42. adj. (obsolete) Gracious; friendly; faithful; true. | |
43. n. (nautical, aviation) The cargo area of a ship or aircraft, (often cargo hold). | |
Put that in the hold. | |