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. | |
Will |
1. n. (American football) A weak-side linebacker. | |
2. v. (rare, transitive) To wish, desire (something). | |
Do what you will. | |
3. v. (rare, intransitive) To wish or desire (that something happen); to intend (that). | |
4. v. (auxiliary) To habitually do (a given action). | |
5. v. (auxiliary) To choose to (do something), used to express intention but without any temporal connotations (+ bare infinitive). | |
6. v. (auxiliary) Used to express the future tense, sometimes with some implication of volition when used in the first person. Compare shall. | |
7. v. (auxiliary) To be able to, to have the capacity to. | |
Unfortunately, only one of these gloves will actually fit over my hand. | |
8. n. One's independent faculty of choice; the ability to be able to exercise one's choice or intention. | |
Of course, man's will is often regulated by his reason. | |
9. n. One's intention or decision; someone's orders or commands. | |
Eventually I submitted to my parents' will. | |
10. n. The act of choosing to do something; a person’s conscious intent or volition. | |
Most creatures have a will to live. | |
11. n. (law) A formal declaration of one's intent concerning the disposal of one's property and holdings after death; the legal document stating such wishes. | |
12. n. (archaic) That which is desired; one's wish. | |
13. n. (archaic) Desire, longing. (Now generally merged with later senses.) | |
He felt a great will to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. | |
14. v. (archaic) To wish, desire. | |
15. v. (transitive, intransitive) To instruct (that something be done) in one's will. | |
16. v. To try to make (something) happen by using one's will (intention). | |
All the fans were willing their team to win the game. | |
17. v. To bequeath (something) to someone in one's will (legal document). | |
He willed his stamp collection to the local museum. | |
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. | |
some |
1. pron. A certain number, at least one. | |
Some enjoy spicy food, others prefer it milder. | |
2. pron. An indefinite quantity. | |
Can I have some of them? | |
3. pron. An indefinite amount, a part. | |
please give me some of the cake; everyone is wrong some of the time | |
4. det. A certain proportion of, at least one. | |
Some people like camping. | |
5. det. An unspecified quantity or number of. | |
Would you like some grapes? | |
6. det. An unspecified amount of (something un). | |
Would you like some water? | |
After some persuasion, he finally agreed. | |
7. det. A certain, an unspecified or unknown. | |
I've just met some guy who said he knew you. | |
The sequence S converges to zero for some initial value v. | |
8. det. A considerable quantity or number of; approximately. | |
He had edited the paper for some years. | |
9. det. (informal) A remarkable. | |
He is some acrobat! | |
10. adv. Of a measurement: approximately, roughly | |
I guess he must have weighed some 90 kilos. | |
Some 30,000 spectators witnessed the feat. | |
Some 4,000 acres of land were flooded. | |
time |
1. n. The inevitable progression into the future with the passing of present events into the past. | |
Time stops for nobody. the ebb and flow of time | |
2. n. (physics, usually) A dimension of spacetime with the opposite metric signature to space dimensions; the fourth dimension. | |
Both science-fiction writers and physicists have written about travel through time. | |
3. n. (physics) Change associated with the second law of thermodynamics; the physical and psychological result of increasing entropy. | |
Time slows down when you approach the speed of light. | |
4. n. (physics, reductionistic definition) The property of a system which allows it to have more than one distinct configuration. | |
An essential definition of time should entail neither speed nor direction, just change. | |
5. n. A duration of time. | |
6. n. A quantity of availability of duration. | |
More time is needed to complete the project. You had plenty of time, but you waited until the last minute. Are you finish | |
7. n. A measurement of a quantity of time; a numerical or general indication of a length of progression. | |
a long time; Record the individual times for the processes in each batch. Only your best time is compared with the other compet | |
8. n. (slang) The serving of a prison sentence. | |
The judge leniently granted a sentence with no hard time. He is not living at home because he is doing time. | |
9. n. An experience. | |
We had a wonderful time at the party. | |
10. n. An era; (with the, sometimes in plural) the current era, the current state of affairs. | |
Roman times; the time of the dinosaurs | |
11. n. (with possessive) A person's youth or young adulthood, as opposed to the present day. | |
In my time, we respected our elders. | |
12. n. (only in singular, sports) Time out; temporary, limited suspension of play. | |
13. n. An instant of time. | |
14. n. How much of a day has passed; the moment, as indicated by a clock or similar device. | |
Excuse me, have you got the time? What time is it, do you guess? Ten o’clock? A computer keeps time using a clock battery | |
15. n. A particular moment or hour; the appropriate moment or hour for something (especially with prepositional phrase or imperfect subjunctive). | |
it’s time for bed; it’s time to sleep; we must wait for the right time; it's time we were going | |
16. n. A numerical indication of a particular moment. | |
at what times do the trains arrive?; these times were erroneously converted between zones | |
17. n. An instance or occurrence. | |
When was the last time we went out? I don’t remember. | |
see you another time; that’s three times he’s made the same mistake | |
Okay, but this is the last time. No more after that! | |
18. n. (of pubs) Closing time. | |
Last call: it's almost time. | |
19. n. The hour of childbirth. | |
20. n. (as someone's time) The end of someone's life, conceived by the speaker as having been predestined. | |
It was his time. | |
21. n. The measurement under some system of region of day or moment. | |
Let's synchronize our watches so we're not on different time. | |
22. n. Ratio of comparison. | |
your car runs three times faster than mine; that is four times as heavy as this | |
23. n. (grammar, dated) Tense. | |
the time of a verb | |
24. n. (music) The measured duration of sounds; measure; tempo; rate of movement; rhythmical division. | |
common or triple time; the musician keeps good time. | |
25. v. To measure or record the time, duration, or rate of. | |
I used a stopwatch to time myself running around the block. | |
26. v. To choose when something begins or how long it lasts. | |
The President timed his speech badly, coinciding with the Super Bowl. | |
The bomb was timed to explode at 9:20 p.m. | |
27. v. (obsolete) To keep or beat time; to proceed or move in time. | |
28. v. (obsolete) To pass time; to delay. | |
29. v. To regulate as to time; to accompany, or agree with, in time of movement. | |
30. v. To measure, as in music or harmony. | |
31. interj. (tennis) Reminder by the umpire for the players to continue playing after their pause. | |
before |
1. prep. Earlier than (in time). | |
I want this done before Monday. | |
2. prep. In front of in space. | |
He stood before me. | |
We sat before the fire to warm ourselves. | |
3. prep. In the presence of. | |
He performed before the troops in North Africa. | |
He spoke before a joint session of Congress. | |
4. prep. Under consideration, judgment, authority of (someone). | |
The case laid before the panel aroused nothing but ridicule. | |
5. prep. In store for, in the future of (someone). | |
6. prep. In front of, according to a formal system of ordering items. | |
In alphabetical order, "cat" comes before "dog", "canine" before feline". | |
7. prep. At a higher or greater position than, in a ranking. | |
An entrepreneur puts market share and profit before quality, an amateur intrinsic qualities before economical considerations. | |
8. adv. At an earlier time. | |
I've never done this before. | |
9. adv. In advance. | |
10. adv. At the front end. | |
11. conj. in advance of the time when | |
12. conj. (informal) rather or sooner than | |
we |
1. pron. (personal) The speakers/writers, or the speaker/writer and at least one other person (not the person being addressed). (This is the exclusive we.) | |
2. pron. (personal) The speaker(s)/writer(s) and the person(s) being addressed. (This is the inclusive we.) | |
3. pron. (personal) The speaker/writer alone. (This use of we is the editorial we, used by writers and others, including royalty—the royal we—as a less personal substitute for I. The reflexive case of this sen | |
4. pron. (personal) The plural form of you, including everyone being addressed. | |
How are we all tonight? | |
5. pron. (personal, generally considered patronising) A second- or third-person pronoun for a person in the speaker's care. | |
How are we feeling this morning? | |
6. det. The speakers/writers, or the speaker/writer and at least one other person. | |
We Canadians like to think of ourselves as different. | |
come |
1. v. (intransitive) To move from further away to nearer to. | |
She’ll be coming ’round the mountain when she comes... | |
2. v. To move towards the speaker. | |
I called the dog, but she wouldn't come. | |
Stop dawdling and come here! | |
3. v. To move towards the listener. | |
Hold on, I'll come in a second. | |
You should ask the doctor to come to your house. | |
4. v. To move towards the object that is the focus of the sentence. | |
No-one can find Bertie Wooster when his aunts come to visit. | |
Hundreds of thousands of people come to Disneyland every year. | |
5. v. (in subordinate clauses and gerunds) To move towards the agent or subject of the main clause. | |
King Cnut couldn't stop the tide coming. | |
He threw the boomerang, which came right back to him. | |
6. v. To move towards an unstated agent. | |
The butler should come when called. | |
7. v. (intransitive) To arrive. | |
8. v. (intransitive) To appear, to manifest itself. | |
The pain in his leg comes and goes. | |
9. v. (intransitive) To take a position relative to something else in a sequence. | |
Which letter comes before Y? Winter comes after autumn. | |
10. v. (intransitive, vulgar, slang) To achieve orgasm; to cum; to ejaculate. | |
He came after a few minutes. | |
11. v. (copulative figuratively, with close) To approach a state of being or accomplishment. | |
They came very close to leaving on time. His test scores came close to perfect. | |
One of the screws came loose, and the skateboard fell apart. | |
12. v. (figuratively, with to) To take a particular approach or point of view in regard to something. | |
He came to SF literature a confirmed technophile, and nothing made him happier than to read a manuscript thick with imaginary gizmos and whatzits. | |
13. v. (copulative, archaic) To become, to turn out to be. | |
He was a dream come true. | |
14. v. (intransitive) To be supplied, or made available; to exist. | |
He's as tough as they come. Our milkshakes come in vanilla, strawberry and chocolate flavours. | |
15. v. (slang) To carry through; to succeed in. | |
You can't come any tricks here. | |
16. v. (intransitive) Happen. | |
This kind of accident comes when you are careless. | |
17. v. (intransitive, with from or sometimes of) To have as an origin, originate. | |
18. v. To have a certain social background. | |
19. v. To be or have been a resident or native. | |
Where did you come from? | |
20. v. To have been brought up by or employed by. | |
She comes from a good family. | |
He comes from a disreputable legal firm. | |
21. v. To begin (at a certain location); to radiate or stem (from). | |
The river comes from Bear Lake. | |
Where does this road come from? | |
22. v. (intransitive, of grain) To germinate. | |
23. n. (obsolete) Coming, arrival; approach. | |
24. n. (vulgar, slang) Semen | |
25. n. (vulgar, slang) Female ejaculatory discharge. | |
26. prep. Used to indicate an event, period, or change in state occurring after a present time. | |
Leave it to settle for about three months and, come Christmas time, you'll have a delicious concoction to offer your guests. | |
Come retirement, their Social Security may turn out to be a lot less than they counted on. | |
27. interj. An exclamation to express annoyance. | |
Come come! Stop crying. Come now! You must eat it. | |
28. interj. An exclamation to express encouragement, or to precede a request. | |
Come come! You can do it. Come now! It won't bite you. | |
29. n. (typography) alternative form of comma in its medieval use as a middot ⟨·⟩ serving as a form of colon. | |
into |
1. prep. Going inside (of). | |
Mary danced into the house. | |
2. prep. Going to a geographic region. | |
We left the house and walked into the street. | |
The plane flew into the open air. | |
3. prep. Against, especially with force or violence. | |
The car crashed into the tree; I wasn't careful, and walked into a wall | |
4. prep. Producing, becoming; (indicates transition into another form or substance). | |
I carved the piece of driftwood into a sculpture of a whale. Right before our eyes, Jake turned into a wolf! | |
5. prep. After the start of. | |
About 20 minutes into the flight, the pilot reported a fire on board. | |
6. prep. (colloquial) Interested in or attracted to. | |
She's really into Shakespeare right now; I'm so into you! | |
7. prep. (mathematics) Taking distinct arguments to distinct values. | |
The exponential function maps the set of real numbers into itself. | |
8. prep. (UK, archaic, India, mathematics) Expressing the operation of multiplication.(R:OED Online) | |
Five into three is fifteen. | |
9. prep. (mathematics) Expressing the operation of division, with the denominator given first. Usually with "goes". | |
Three into two won't go. | |
24 goes into 48 how many times? | |
10. prep. Investigating the subject (of). | |
Call for research into pesticides blamed for vanishing bees. | |
our |
1. det. Belonging to us. | |
2. det. Of, from, or belonging to the nation, region, or language of the speaker. | |
3. det. (Northern England, Scotland) Used before a person's name to indicate that the person is in one's family, or is a very close friend. | |
I'm going to see our Terry for tea. | |
4. v. misspelling of are | |
inheritance |
1. n. The passing of title to an estate upon death. | |
2. n. That which a person is entitled to inherit, by law or testament. | |
3. n. (esp. linguistics, biology) The act or mechanism of inheriting; the state of having inherited | |
The Indo-European languages share various similarities as a result of their inheritance from a common ancestor. | |
4. n. (biology, genetic algorithms) The biological attributes passed hereditarily from ancestors to their offspring. | |
5. n. (programming, object-oriented) The mechanism whereby parts of a superclass are available to instances of its subclass. | |