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. | |
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. | |
usual |
1. adj. Most commonly occurring; typical. | |
The preference of a boy to a girl is a usual occurrence in some parts of China. | |
It is becoming more usual these days to rear children as bilingual. | |
show |
1. v. To display, to have somebody see (something). | |
The car's dull finish showed years of neglect. | |
All he had to show for four years of attendance at college was a framed piece of paper. | |
2. v. To bestow; to confer. | |
to show mercy; to show favour; (dialectal) show me the salt please | |
3. v. To indicate (a fact) to be true; to demonstrate. | |
4. v. To guide or escort. | |
Could you please show him on his way. He has overstayed his welcome. | |
They showed us in. | |
5. v. (intransitive) To be visible; to be seen; to appear. | |
Your bald patch is starting to show. | |
At length, his gloom showed. | |
6. v. (intransitive, informal) To put in an appearance; show up. | |
We waited for an hour, but they never showed. | |
7. v. (intransitive, informal) To have an enlarged belly and thus be recognizable as pregnant. | |
8. v. (intransitive, racing) To finish third, especially of horses or dogs. | |
In the third race: Aces Up won, paying eight dollars; Blarney Stone placed, paying three dollars; and Cinnamon showed, paying five dollars. | |
9. v. (obsolete) To have a certain appearance, such as well or ill, fit or unfit; to become or suit; to appear. | |
10. n. A play, dance, or other entertainment. | |
11. n. An exhibition of items. | |
art show; dog show | |
12. n. A demonstration. | |
show of force | |
13. n. A broadcast program/programme. | |
radio show; television show | |
14. n. A movie. | |
Let's catch a show. | |
15. n. A project or presentation. | |
Let's get on with the show. Let's get this show on the road. They went on an international road show to sell the shares to investors. It was Apple's usual do | |
16. n. Mere display or pomp with no substance. (Usually seen in the phrases "all show" and "for show".) | |
The dog sounds ferocious but it's all show. | |
17. n. Outward appearance; wileful or deceptive appearance. | |
18. n. (baseball, with "the") The major leagues. | |
He played AA ball for years, but never made it to the show. | |
19. n. (mining, obsolete) A pale blue flame at the top of a candle flame, indicating the presence of firedamp. | |
20. n. (archaic) Pretence. | |
21. n. (archaic) Sign, token, or indication. | |
22. n. (obsolete) Semblance; likeness; appearance. | |
23. n. (obsolete) Plausibility. | |
24. n. (medicine) A discharge, from the vagina, of mucus streaked with blood, occurring a short time before labor. | |
put |
1. v. To place something somewhere. | |
She put her books on the table. | |
2. v. To bring or set into a certain relation, state or condition. | |
Put your house in order! | |
He is putting all his energy into this one task. | |
She tends to put herself in dangerous situations. | |
3. v. (finance) To exercise a put option. | |
He got out of his Procter and Gamble bet by putting his shares at 80. | |
4. v. To express something in a certain manner. | |
When you put it that way, I guess I can see your point. | |
5. v. (athletics) To throw a heavy iron ball, as a sport. (See shot put. Do not confuse with putt.) | |
6. v. To steer; to direct one's course; to go. | |
7. v. To play a card or a hand in the game called put. | |
8. v. To attach or attribute; to assign. | |
to put a wrong construction on an act or expression | |
9. v. (obsolete) To lay down; to give up; to surrender. | |
10. v. To set before one for judgment, acceptance, or rejection; to bring to the attention. | |
to put a question; to put a case | |
11. v. (obsolete) To incite; to entice; to urge; to constrain; to oblige. | |
12. v. (mining) To convey coal in the mine, as for example from the working to the tramway. | |
13. n. (business) A right to sell something at a predetermined price. | |
14. n. (finance) A contract to sell a security at a set price on or before a certain date. | |
He bought a January '08 put for Procter and Gamble at 80 to hedge his bet. | |
15. n. The act of putting; an action; a movement; a thrust; a push. | |
the put of a ball | |
16. n. An old card game. | |
17. n. (obsolete) An idiot; a foolish person; a duffer. | |
18. n. (obsolete) A prostitute. | |
on |
1. adj. In the state of being active, functioning or operating. | |
2. adj. Performing according to schedule. | |
Are we still on for tonight? | |
Is the show still on? | |
3. adj. (chiefly UK, informal, usually negative) Acceptable, appropriate. | |
You can't do that; it's just not on. | |
4. adj. (informal) Destined, normally in the context of a challenge being accepted; involved, doomed. | |
"Five bucks says the Cavs win tonight." ―"You're on!". | |
Mike just threw coffee onto Paul's lap. It's on now. | |
5. adj. (baseball, informal) Having reached a base as a runner and being positioned there, awaiting further action from a subsequent batter. | |
6. adj. (euphemistic) Menstruating. | |
7. adv. To an operating state. | |
turn the television on | |
8. adv. Along, forwards (continuing an action). | |
drive on, rock on | |
9. adv. In continuation, at length. | |
and so on. | |
He rambled on and on. | |
10. adv. (not US) Later. | |
Ten years on, nothing had changed in the village. | |
11. prep. Positioned at the upper surface of, touching from above. | |
on the table; on the couch | |
The parrot was sitting on Jim's shoulder. | |
12. prep. At or near; adjacent to. | |
Soon we'll pass a statue on the left. | |
The fleet is on the American coast. | |
Croton-on-Hudson, Rostov-on-Don, Southend-on-Sea | |
13. prep. Covering. | |
He wore old shoes on his feet. | |
14. prep. At the date of. | |
Born on the 4th of July. | |
15. prep. Some time during the day of. | |
I'll see you on Monday. The bus leaves on Friday. Can I see you on a different day? On Sunday I'm busy. | |
16. prep. Dealing with the subject of, about, or concerning something. | |
A book on history. The World Summit on the Information Society. | |
17. prep. Touching; hanging from. | |
The fruit ripened on the trees. The painting hangs on the wall. | |
18. prep. (informal) In the possession of. | |
I haven't got any money on me. | |
19. prep. Because of, or due to. | |
To arrest someone on suspicion of bribery. To contact someone on a hunch. | |
20. prep. Upon; at the time of (and often because of). | |
On Jack's entry, William got up to leave. | |
On the addition of ammonia, a chemical reaction begins. | |
21. prep. Paid for by. | |
The drinks are on me tonight, boys. The meal is on the house. I paid for the airfare and meals for my family, but the hotel room was on the company. | |
22. prep. Used to indicate a means or medium. | |
I saw it on television. Can't you see I'm on the phone? | |
23. prep. Indicating a means of subsistence. | |
They lived on ten dollars a week. The dog survived three weeks on rainwater. | |
24. prep. Away or occupied with (e.g. a scheduled activity). | |
He's on his lunch break. on vacation; on holiday | |
25. prep. Denoting performance or action by contact with the surface, upper part, or outside of anything; hence, by means of; with. | |
to play on a violin or piano | |
Her words made a lasting impression on my mind. | |
26. prep. Regularly taking (a drug). | |
You've been on these antidepressants far too long. He's acting so strangely, I think he must be on something. | |
27. prep. Under the influence of (a drug). | |
He's acting crazy because he's on crack right now. | |
28. prep. (mathematics) Having identical domain and codomain. | |
a function on | |
29. prep. (mathematics) HavingV^n as domain and V as codomain, for some set V and integer n. | |
an operator on | |
30. prep. (mathematics) Generated by. | |
the free group on four letters | |
31. prep. Supported by (the specified part of itself). | |
A table can't stand on two legs. After resting on his elbows, he stood on his toes, then walked on his heels. | |
32. prep. At a given time after the start of something; at. | |
33. prep. In addition to; besides; indicating multiplication or succession in a series. | |
heaps on heaps of food | |
mischief on mischief; loss on loss | |
34. prep. (obsolete, regional) of | |
35. prep. Indicating dependence or reliance; with confidence in. | |
I depended on them for assistance. | |
He will promise on certain conditions. | |
Do you ever bet on horses? | |
36. prep. Toward; for; indicating the object of an emotion. | |
Have pity or compassion on him. | |
37. prep. (obsolete) At the peril of, or for the safety of. | |
38. prep. In the service of; connected with; of the number of. | |
He is on a newspaper; I am on the committee. | |
39. prep. By virtue of; with the pledge of. | |
He affirmed or promised on his word, or on his honour. | |
40. prep. To the account or detriment of; denoting imprecation or invocation, or coming to, falling, or resting upon. | |
On us be all the blame. | |
A curse on him! | |
Please don't tell on her and get her in trouble. | |
He turned on her and has been her enemy ever since. | |
He went all honest on me, making me listen to his confession. | |
41. v. (transitive, Singapore, Philippines) to switch on | |
Can you on the light? | |
42. prep. (UK dialectal, Scotland) Without. | |
43. n. In the Japanese language, a pronunciation, or reading, of a kanji character that was originally based on the character's pronunciation in Chinese, contrasted with kun. | |
Most kanji have two kinds of reading, called "on" and "kun". | |
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 | |
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. | |
government |
1. n. The body with the power to make and/or enforce laws to control a country, land area, people or organization. | |
2. n. (grammar, linguistics) The relationship between a word and its dependents | |
3. n. A group of people who hold a monopoly on the legitimate use of force in a given territory. | |
4. n. The state and its administration viewed as the ruling political power. | |
5. n. The management or control of a system. | |
6. n. The tenure of a chief of state. | |