it |
1. pron. The third-person singular personal pronoun that is normally used to refer to an inanimate object or abstract entity, also often used to refer to animals. | |
Put it over there. | |
Take each day as it comes. | |
I heard the sound of the school bus - it was early today. | |
2. pron. A third-person singular personal pronoun used to refer to a child, especially of unknown gender. | |
She took the baby and held it in her arms. | |
3. pron. Used to refer to someone being identified, often on the phone, but not limited to this situation. | |
It's me. John. | |
Is it her? | |
4. pron. The impersonal pronoun, used without referent as the subject of an impersonal verb or statement. (known as the dummy pronoun or weather it) | |
It is nearly 10 o’clock. | |
It’s 10:45 read ten-forty-five. | |
It’s very cold today. | |
It’s lonely without you. | |
5. pron. The impersonal pronoun, used without referent in various short idioms. | |
stick it out | |
live it up | |
rough it | |
6. pron. The impersonal pronoun, used as a placeholder for a delayed subject, or less commonly, object; known as the dummy pronoun or, more formally in linguistics, a syntactic expletive. The delayed subject i | |
It is easy to see how she would think that. (with the infinitive clause headed by to see) | |
I find it odd that you would say that. (with the noun clause introduced by that) | |
It is hard seeing you so sick. (with the gerund seeing) | |
He saw to it that everyone would vote for him. (with the noun clause introduced by that) | |
It is not clear if the report was true. (with the noun clause introduced by if) | |
7. pron. All or the end; something after which there is no more. | |
Are there more students in this class, or is this it? | |
That's it—I'm not going to any more candy stores with you. | |
8. pron. (chiefly pejorative, offensive) A third-person singular personal pronoun used to refer to an animate referent who is transgender or is neither female nor male. | |
9. pron. (obsolete) (Followed by an omitted and understood relative pronoun): That which; what. | |
10. det. (obsolete) its | |
11. n. One who is neither a he nor a she; a creature; a dehumanized being. | |
12. n. The person who chases and tries to catch the other players in the playground game of tag. | |
In the next game, Adam and Tom will be it… | |
13. n. (British) The game of tag. | |
Let's play it at breaktime. | |
14. n. Sex appeal, especially that which goes beyond beauty. | |
15. n. (euphemism) Sexual activity. | |
caught them doing it | |
16. adj. (colloquial) Most fashionable. | |
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. | |
culture |
1. n. the arts, customs, lifestyles, background, and habits that characterize a particular society or nation | |
2. n. the beliefs, values, behaviour and material objects that constitute a people's way of life | |
3. n. the conventional conducts and ideologies of a community; the system comprising of the accepted norms and values of a society. | |
4. n. (anthropology) any knowledge passed from one generation to the next, not necessarily with respect to human beings | |
5. n. (botany) cultivation | |
6. n. (microbiology) the process of growing a bacterial or other biological entity in an artificial medium | |
7. n. the growth thus produced | |
I'm headed to the lab to make sure my cell culture hasn't died. | |
8. n. the collective noun for a group of bacteria | |
9. n. (cartography) the details on a map that do not represent natural features of the area delineated, such as names and the symbols for towns, roads, meridians, and parallels | |
10. v. to maintain in an environment suitable for growth (especially of bacteria) (compare cultivate) | |
11. v. to increase the artistic or scientific interest (in something) (compare cultivate) | |
shock |
1. n. A sudden, heavy impact. | |
The train hit the buffers with a great shock. | |
2. n. (figuratively) Something so surprising that it is stunning. | |
3. n. A sudden or violent mental or emotional disturbance. | |
4. n. Electric shock, a sudden burst of electrical energy hitting a person or animal. | |
5. n. Circulatory shock, a medical emergency characterized by the inability of the circulatory system to supply enough oxygen to meet tissue requirements. | |
6. n. (mathematics) A discontinuity arising in the solution of a partial differential equation. | |
7. v. To cause to be emotionally shocked. | |
The disaster shocked the world. | |
8. v. To give an electric shock to. | |
9. v. (obsolete, intransitive) To meet with a shock; to collide in a violent encounter. | |
10. n. An arrangement of sheaves for drying; a stook. | |
11. n. (commerce, dated) A lot consisting of sixty pieces; a term applied in some Baltic ports to loose goods. | |
12. n. (by extension) A tuft or bunch of something, such as hair or grass. | |
His head boasted a shock of sandy hair. | |
13. n. (obsolete) A small dog with long shaggy hair, especially a poodle or spitz; a shaggy lapdog. | |
14. v. To collect, or make up, into a shock or shocks; to stook. | |
to shock rye | |
when |
1. adv. (interrogative) Used to introduce questions about time. | |
When will they arrive? | |
2. adv. Used to introduce indirect questions about time. | |
Do you know when they arrived? | |
Do you know when they will arrive? | |
Do you know when they arrive? | |
3. adv. At an earlier and less prosperous time. | |
He's mister high and mighty now, but I remember him when. | |
4. adv. (indirect question) Used to refer to doubts about time. | |
5. adv. (relative) At which, on which, during which. Often omitted or replaced with that. | |
That was the day when the Twin Towers fell. | |
6. conj. At what time. | |
They were told when to sleep. | |
He doesn't know when to stop talking. | |
7. conj. At such time as. | |
I’m happiest when I’m working. | |
8. conj. At the time of the action of the following clause or participle phrase. | |
It was raining when I came yesterday. | |
The show will begin when I get there. | |
The game is over when the referee says it is. | |
Be careful when crossing the street. | |
Pay attention when spoken to. | |
When (you are) angry, count to ten before speaking or acting. | |
That time when the dog stole the turkey from the table. | |
9. conj. Since; given the fact that. | |
I don't see the point of putting up Christmas decorations when I am the only person who is going to see them. | |
10. pron. (interrogative) What time; which time. | |
Since when do I need your permission? | |
11. n. The time at which something happens. | |
A good article will cover the who, the what, the when, the where, the why and the how. | |
12. interj. That's enough, a command to stop adding something, especially an ingredient of food or drink. | |
I |
1. pron. The speaker or writer, referred to as the grammatical subject, of a sentence. | |
(audio, Here I am, sir.ogg, Audio) | |
2. pron. (nonstandard, hypercorrection) The speaker or writer, referred to as the grammatical object, of a sentence. | |
3. n. (metaphysics) The ego. | |
4. n. (US, roadway) Interstate. | |
5. n. (grammar) (abbreviation of instrumental case) | |
6. pron. nonstandard spelling of I | |
go |
1. v. To move: | |
2. v. (intransitive) To move through space (especially to or through a place). (May be used of tangible things like people or cars, or intangible things like | |
Why don’t you go with us? This train goes through Cincinnati on its way to Chicago. Chris, where are you going? &nbs | |
3. v. (intransitive) To move or travel through time (either literally—in a fictional or hypothetical situation in which time travel is possible—or in one's m | |
Yesterday was the second-wettest day on record; you have to go all the way back to 1896 to find a day when more rain fell. | |
Fans want to see the Twelfth Doctor go to the 51st century to visit River in the library. | |
4. v. (intransitive) To navigate (to a file or folder on a computer, a site on the internet, a memory, etc). | |
5. v. To move (a particular distance, or in a particular fashion). | |
We've only gone twenty miles today. This car can go circles around that one. | |
6. v. (intransitive) To move or travel in order to do something, or to do something while moving. | |
We went swimming. Let's go shopping. | |
7. v. (intransitive) To leave; to move away. | |
Please don't go! I really must be going. Workmen were coming and going at all hours of the night. | |
8. v. (obsolete, intransitive) To walk; to travel on one's feet. | |
9. v. (intransitive, chiefly of a, machine) To work or function (properly); to move or perform (as required). | |
The engine just won't go anymore. | |
10. v. (intransitive) To start; to begin (an action or process). | |
Get ready, get set, go! On your marks, get set, go! On your marks, set, go! | |
Here goes nothing. Let's go and hunt. | |
11. v. (intransitive) To take a turn, especially in a game. | |
It’s your turn; go. | |
12. v. (intransitive) To attend. | |
I go to school at the schoolhouse. She went to Yale. They only go to church on Christmas. | |
13. v. To proceed: | |
14. v. (intransitive) To proceed (often in a specified manner, indicating the perceived quality of an event or state). | |
That went well. "How are things going?" "Not bad, thanks.". | |
15. v. (intransitive, colloquial, with another verb, sometimes linked by and) To proceed (especially to do something foolish). | |
Why'd you have to go and do that? | |
Why'd you have to go do that? | |
He just went and punched the guy. | |
16. v. To follow or travel along (a path): | |
17. v. To follow or proceed according to (a course or path). | |
Let's go this way for a while. | |
She was going that way anyway, so she offered to show him where it was. | |
18. v. To travel or pass along. | |
19. v. (intransitive) To extend (from one point in time or space to another). | |
This property goes all the way to the state line. | |
20. v. (intransitive) To lead (to a place); to give access to. | |
Does this road go to Fort Smith? | |
21. v. (copula) To become. (The adjective that follows usually describes a negative state.) | |
You'll go blind. I went crazy / went mad. After failing as a criminal, he decided to go straight. | |
22. v. To assume the obligation or function of; to be, to serve as. | |
23. v. (intransitive) To continuously or habitually be in a state. | |
I don't want my children to go hungry. We went barefoot in the summer. | |
24. v. To come to (a certain condition or state). | |
they went into debt, she goes to sleep around 10 o'clock, the local shop wants to go digital, and eventually go global | |
25. v. (intransitive) To change (from one value to another) in the meaning of wend. | |
The traffic light went straight from green to red. | |
26. v. To turn out, to result; to come to (a certain result). | |
How did your meeting with Smith go? | |
27. v. (intransitive) To tend (toward a result). | |
Well, that goes to show you. These experiences go to make us stronger. | |
28. v. To contribute to a (specified) end product or result. | |
qualities that go to make a lady / lip-reader / sharpshooter | |
29. v. To pass, to be used up: | |
30. v. (intransitive, of time) To elapse, to pass; to slip away. (Compare go by.) | |
The time went slowly. | |
31. v. (intransitive) To end or disappear. (Compare go away.) | |
After three days, my headache finally went. | |
32. v. (intransitive) To be spent or used up. | |
His money went on drink. | |
33. v. (intransitive) To die. | |
34. v. (intransitive) To be discarded. | |
This chair has got to go. | |
35. v. (intransitive, cricket) To be lost or out: | |
36. v. (intransitive, cricket, of a wicket) To be lost. | |
37. v. (intransitive, cricket, of a batsman) To be out. | |
38. v. To break down or apart: | |
39. v. (intransitive) To collapse or give way, to break apart. | |
40. v. (intransitive) To break down or decay. | |
This meat is starting to go off. My mind is going. She's 83; her eyesight is starting to go. | |
41. v. (intransitive) To be sold. | |
Everything must go. The car went for five thousand dollars. | |
42. v. (intransitive) To be given, especially to be assigned or allotted. | |
The property shall go to my wife. The award went to Steven Spielberg. | |
43. v. (transitive, intransitive) To survive or get by; to last or persist for a stated length of time. | |
How long can you go without water? We've gone without your help for a while now. I've gone ten days now without a cigarette. Can you two go twenty minutes wi | |
44. v. (transitive, sports) To have a certain record. | |
They've gone one for three in this series. The team is going five in a row. | |
45. v. To be authoritative, accepted, or valid: | |
46. v. (intransitive) To have (final) authority; to be authoritative. | |
Whatever the boss says goes, do you understand? | |
47. v. (intransitive) To be accepted. | |
Anything goes around here. | |
48. v. (intransitive) To be valid. | |
49. v. To say (something), to make a sound: | |
50. v. (transitive, slang) To say (something, aloud or to oneself). (Often used in present tense.) | |
I go, "As if!" And she was all like, "Whatever!". | |
As soon as I did it, I went "that was stupid.". | |
51. v. To make the (specified) sound. | |
Cats go "meow". Motorcycles go "vroom". | |
52. v. (intransitive) To sound; to make a noise. | |
I woke up just before the clock went. | |
53. v. To be expressed or composed (a certain way). | |
The tune goes like this. As the story goes, he got the idea for the song while sitting in traffic. | |
54. v. (intransitive) To resort (to). | |
I'll go to court if I have to. | |
55. v. To apply or subject oneself to: | |
56. v. To apply oneself; to undertake; to have as one's goal or intention. (Compare be going to.) | |
I'm going to join a sports team. I wish you'd go and get a job. He went to pick it up, but it rolled out of reach. | |
back |
1. adj. (not comparable) Near the rear. | |
Go in the back door of the house. | |
2. adj. (not comparable) Not current. | |
I’d like to find a back issue of that magazine. | |
3. adj. (not comparable) Far from the main area. | |
They took a back road. | |
4. adj. (not comparable) In arrear; overdue. | |
They still owe three months' back rent. | |
5. adj. (not comparable) Moving or operating backward. | |
back action | |
6. adj. (comparable, phonetics) Pronounced with the highest part of the body of the tongue toward the back of the mouth, near the soft palate (most often describing a vowel). | |
The vowel of smallcaps - lot has a back vowel in most dialects of England. | |
7. adv. (not comparable) To or in a previous condition or place. | |
He gave back the money. He needs his money back. He was on vacation, but now he’s back. The office fell into chaos when you left, but now order is back. | |
8. adv. Away from the front or from an edge. | |
Sit all the way back in your chair. | |
Step back from the curb. | |
9. adv. In a manner that impedes. | |
Fear held him back. | |
10. adv. In a reciprocal manner. | |
If you hurt me, I'll hurt you back. | |
11. adv. Earlier, ago. | |
many years back | |
12. n. The rear of the body, especially the part between the neck and the end of the spine and opposite the chest and belly. | |
Could you please scratch my back? | |
13. n. The spine and associated tissues. | |
I hurt my back lifting those crates. | |
14. n. (slang) Large and attractive buttocks. | |
15. n. (figurative) The part of a piece of clothing which covers the back. | |
I still need to finish the back of your dress. | |
16. n. The backrest, the part of a piece of furniture which receives the human back. | |
Can you fix the back of this chair? | |
17. n. (obsolete) That part of the body that bears clothing. (Now used only in the phrase clothes on one's back.) | |
18. n. That which is farthest away from the front. | |
He sat in the back of the room. | |
19. n. The side of any object which is opposite the front or useful side. | |
Turn the book over and look at the back. | |
20. n. # The edge of a book which is bound. | |
# The titles are printed on the backs of the books. | |
21. n. # (printing) The inside margin of a page. | |
22. n. # The side of a blade opposite the side used for cutting. | |
# Tap it with the back of your knife. | |
23. n. The reverse side; the side that is not normally seen. | |
I hung the clothes on the back of the door. | |
24. n. Area behind, such as the backyard of a house. | |
We'll meet out in the back of the library. | |
25. n. The part of something that goes last. | |
The car was near the back of the train. | |
26. n. (sports) In some team sports, a position behind most players on the team. | |
The backs were lined up in an I formation. | |
27. n. (figuratively) Upper part of a natural object which is considered to resemble an animal's back. | |
The small boat raced over the backs of the waves. | |
28. n. A support or resource in reserve. | |
29. n. (nautical) The keel and keelson of a ship. | |
The ship's back broke in the pounding surf. | |
30. n. (mining) The roof of a horizontal underground passage. | |
31. n. (slang) Effort, usually physical. | |
Put some back into it! | |
32. n. A non-alcoholic drink (often water or a soft drink), to go with hard liquor or a cocktail. | |
Could I get a martini with a water back? | |
33. n. Among leather dealers, one of the thickest and stoutest tanned hides. | |
34. v. (intransitive) To go in the reverse direction. | |
the train backed into the station; the horse refuses to back | |
35. v. To support. | |
I back you all the way; which horse are you backing in this race? | |
36. v. (nautical, of the wind) To change direction contrary to the normal pattern; that is, to shift anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere, or clockwise in the southern hemisphere. | |
37. v. (nautical, of a square sail) To brace the yards so that the wind presses on the front of the sail, to slow the ship. | |
38. v. (nautical, of an anchor) To lay out a second, smaller anchor to provide additional holding power. | |
39. v. (of a hunting dog) To stand still behind another dog which has pointed. | |
40. v. To push or force backwards. | |
to back oxen | |
The mugger backed her into a corner and demanded her wallet. | |
41. v. (transitive, obsolete) To get upon the back of; to mount. | |
42. v. (transitive, obsolete) To place or seat upon the back. | |
43. v. To make a back for; to furnish with a back. | |
to back books | |
44. v. To adjoin behind; to be at the back of. | |
45. v. To write upon the back of, possibly as an endorsement. | |
to back a letter; to back a note or legal document | |
46. v. (legal, of a justice of the peace) To sign or endorse (a warrant, issued in another county, to apprehend an offender). | |
47. v. To row backward with (oars). | |
to back the oars | |
48. n. A large shallow vat; a cistern, tub, or trough, used by brewers, distillers, dyers, picklers, gluemakers, and others, for mixing or cooling wort, holding water, hot glue, etc. | |
49. n. A ferryboat. | |
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 | |
the |
1. art. Definite grammatical article that implies necessarily that an entity it articulates is presupposed; something already mentioned, or completely specified later in that same sentence, or assumed already | |
I’m reading the book. (Compare I’m reading a book.) | |
The street in front of your house. (Compare A street in Paris.) | |
The men and women watched the man give the birdseed to the bird. | |
2. art. Used before a noun modified by a restrictive relative clause, indicating that the noun refers to a single referent defined by the relative clause. | |
The street that runs through my hometown. | |
3. art. Used before an object considered to be unique, or of which there is only one at a time. | |
No one knows how many galaxies there are in the universe. | |
God save the Queen! | |
4. art. Used before a superlative or an ordinal number modifying a noun, to indicate that the noun refers to a single item. | |
That was the best apple pie ever. | |
5. art. Added to a superlative or an ordinal number to make it into a substantive. | |
That apple pie was the best. | |
6. art. Introducing a singular term to be taken generically: preceding a name of something standing for a whole class. | |
7. art. Used before an adjective, indicating all things (especially persons) described by that adjective. | |
Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable. | |
8. art. Used to indicate a certain example of (a noun) which is usually of most concern or most common or familiar. | |
No one in the whole country had seen it before. | |
I don't think I'll get to it until the morning. | |
9. art. Used before a body part (especially of someone previously mentioned), as an alternative to a possessive pronoun. | |
A stone hit him on the head. (= “A stone hit him on his head.”) | |
10. art. When stressed, indicates that it describes an object which is considered to be best or exclusively worthy of attention. | |
That is the hospital to go to for heart surgery. | |
11. adv. 1=With a comparative ormore and a verb phrase, establishes a parallel with one or more other such comparatives. | |
The hotter the better. | |
The more I think about it, the weaker it looks. | |
The more money donated, the more books purchased, and the more happy children. | |
It looks weaker and weaker, the more I think about it. | |
12. adv. 1=With a comparative, and often withfor it, indicates a result more like said comparative. This can be negated withnone. | |
It was a difficult time, but I’m the wiser for it. | |
It was a difficult time, and I’m none the wiser for it. | |
I'm much the wiser for having had a difficult time like that. | |
mainland |
1. n. The main landmass of a country or continent. | |