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. | |
head |
1. n. The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth and main sense organs. | |
Be careful when you pet that dog on the head; it may bite. | |
2. n. (people) To do with heads. | |
3. n. # Mental or emotional aptitude or skill. | |
# The company is looking for people with good heads for business. | |
# He has no head for heights. | |
# It's all about having a good head on your shoulders. | |
4. n. # Mind; one's own thoughts. | |
# This song keeps going through my head. | |
5. n. # A headache; especially one resulting from intoxication. | |
6. n. # A headdress; a covering for the head. | |
# a laced head; a head of hair | |
7. n. # An individual person. | |
# Admission is three dollars a head. | |
8. n. (animals) To do with heads. | |
9. n. # (measure word for livestock and game) A single animal. | |
# 200 head of cattle and 50 head of horses | |
# 12 head of big cattle and 14 head of branded calves | |
# at five years of age this head of cattle is worth perhaps $40 | |
# a reduction in the assessment per head of sheep | |
# they shot 20 head of quail | |
10. n. # The population of game. | |
# we have a heavy head of deer this year | |
# planting the hedges increased the head of quail and doves | |
11. n. # The antlers of a deer. | |
12. n. The topmost, foremost, or leading part. | |
What does it say at the head of the page? | |
13. n. The end of a table. | |
14. n. # The end of a rectangular table furthest from the entrance; traditionally considered a seat of honor. | |
# During meetings, the supervisor usually sits at the head of the table. | |
15. n. # (billiards) The end of a pool table opposite the end where the balls have been racked. | |
16. n. The principal operative part of a machine or tool. | |
17. n. # The end of a hammer, axe, golf club or similar implement used for striking other objects. | |
18. n. # The end of a nail, screw, bolt or similar fastener which is opposite the point; usually blunt and relatively wide. | |
# Hit the nail on the head! | |
19. n. # The sharp end of an arrow, spear or pointer. | |
# The head of the compass needle is pointing due north. | |
20. n. # (lacrosse) The top part of a lacrosse stick that holds the ball. | |
21. n. # (music) A drum head, the membrane which is hit to produce sound. | |
# Tap the head of the drum for this roll. | |
22. n. # A machine element which reads or writes electromagnetic signals to or from a storage medium. | |
# The heads of your tape player need to be cleaned. | |
23. n. # (computing) The part of a disk drive responsible for reading and writing data. | |
24. n. # (automotive) The cylinder head, a platform above the cylinders in an internal combustion engine, containing the valves and spark plugs. | |
25. n. The foam that forms on top of beer or other carbonated beverages. | |
Pour me a fresh beer; this one has no head. | |
26. n. (engineering) The end cap of a cylindrically-shaped pressure vessel. | |
27. n. (UK, geology) Deposits near the top of a geological succession. | |
28. n. (medicine) The end of an abscess where pus collects. | |
29. n. (music) The headstock of a guitar. | |
30. n. (nautical) A leading component. | |
31. n. # The top edge of a sail. | |
32. n. # The bow of a vessel. | |
33. n. (British) A headland. | |
34. n. (social) A leader or expert. | |
35. n. The place of honour, or of command; the most important or foremost position; the front. | |
36. n. Leader; chief; mastermind. | |
I'd like to speak to the head of the department. | |
Police arrested the head of the gang in a raid last night. | |
37. n. A headmaster or headmistress. | |
I was called into the head's office to discuss my behaviour. | |
38. n. (music, slang) A person with an extensive knowledge of hip hop. | |
Only true heads know this. | |
39. n. A significant or important part. | |
40. n. A beginning or end, a protuberance. | |
41. n. # The source of a river; the end of a lake where a river flows into it. | |
# The expedition followed the river all the way to the head. | |
42. n. # A clump of seeds, leaves or flowers; a capitulum. | |
# Give me a head of lettuce. | |
43. n. ## An ear of wheat, barley, or other small cereal. | |
44. n. ## The leafy top part of a tree. | |
45. n. # (anatomy) The rounded part of a bone fitting into a depression in another bone to form a ball-and-socket joint. | |
46. n. # (nautical) The toilet of a ship. | |
# I've got to go to the head. | |
47. n. # (in the plural) Tiles laid at the eaves of a house. | |
48. n. A component. | |
49. n. # (jazz) The principal melody or theme of a piece. | |
50. n. # (linguistics) A morpheme that determines the category of a compound or the word that determines the syntactic type of the phrase of which it is a memb | |
51. n. Headway; progress. | |
We are having a difficult time making head against this wind. | |
52. n. Topic; subject. | |
We will consider performance issues under the head of future improvements. | |
53. n. Denouement; crisis. | |
These isses are going to come to a head today. | |
54. n. (fluid dynamics) Pressure and energy. | |
55. n. A buildup of fluid pressure, often quantified as pressure head. | |
Let the engine build up a good head of steam. | |
56. n. The difference in elevation between two points in a column of fluid, and the resulting pressure of the fluid at the lower point. | |
57. n. More generally, energy in a mass of fluid divided by its weight. | |
58. n. (slang) Fellatio or cunnilingus; oral sex. | |
She gave great head. | |
59. n. (slang) The glans penis. | |
60. n. (slang) A heavy or habitual user of illicit drugs. | |
61. n. (obsolete) Power; armed force. | |
62. adj. Of, relating to, or intended for the head. | |
63. adj. Foremost in rank or importance. | |
the head cook | |
64. adj. Placed at the top or the front. | |
65. adj. Coming from in front. | |
head sea | |
prefect |
1. n. (historical) An official of Ancient Rome who controlled or superintended a particular command, charge, department, etc. | |
the prefect of the aqueducts; the prefect of a camp, of a fleet, of the city guard, or of provisions; the pretorian prefect, who was commander of the troops guarding the emperor's person | |
2. n. The head of a department in France. | |
3. n. The head of a prefecture in Japan. | |
4. n. A school pupil in a position of power over other pupils. | |
5. n. A commander. | |
was |
1. v. first-person singular past of be. | |
2. v. third-person singular past of be. | |
be |
1. v. (intransitive, now literary) To exist; to have real existence. | |
2. v. (with there, or dialectally it, as dummy subject) To exist. | |
There is just one woman in town who can help us. (or, dialectally:) It is just one woman in town who can help us. | |
3. v. (intransitive) To occupy a place. | |
The cup is on the table. | |
4. v. (intransitive) To occur, to take place. | |
When will the meeting be? | |
5. v. (intransitive, in perfect tenses, without predicate) Elliptical form of "be here", "go to and return from" or similar. | |
The postman has been today, but my tickets have still not yet come. | |
I have been to Spain many times. | |
Moscow, huh? I've never been, but it sounds fascinating. | |
6. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to indicate that the subject and object are the same. | |
Knowledge is bliss. | |
Hi, I’m Jim. | |
7. v. (transitive, copulative, mathematics) Used to indicate that the values on either side of an equation are the same. | |
3 times 5 is fifteen. | |
8. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to indicate that the subject plays the role of the predicate nominal. | |
François Mitterrand was president of France from 1981 to 1995. | |
9. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to connect a noun to an adjective that describes it. | |
The sky is blue. | |
10. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by a noun or noun phrase. | |
The sky is a deep blue today. | |
11. v. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form the passive voice. | |
The dog was drowned by the boy. | |
12. v. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form the continuous forms of various tenses. | |
The woman is walking. | |
I shall be writing to you soon. | |
We liked to chat while we were eating. | |
13. v. (archaic, auxiliary) Used to form the perfect aspect with certain intransitive verbs, most of which indicate motion. Often still used for "to go". | |
14. v. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form future tenses, especially the future periphrastic. | |
I am to leave tomorrow. | |
I would drive you, were I to obtain a car. | |
15. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to link a subject to a measurement. | |
This building is three hundred years old. | |
I am 75 kilograms. | |
He’s about 6 feet tall. | |
16. v. (transitive, copulative, with a cardinal numeral) Used to state the age of a subject in years. | |
I’m 20. (= I am 20 years old.) | |
17. v. (with a dummy subject) it Used to indicate the time of day. | |
It is almost eight. (= It is almost eight o’clock.) | |
It’s 8:30 read eight-thirty in Tokyo. | |
What time is it there? It’s night. | |
18. v. (With since) Used to indicate passage of time since the occurrence of an event. | |
It has been three years since my grandmother died. (similar to My grandmother died three years ago, but emphasizes the intervening period) | |
It had been six days since his departure, when I received a letter from him. | |
19. v. (often, impersonal, with it as a dummy subject) Used to indicate weather, air quality, or the like. | |
It is hot in Arizona, but it is not usually humid. | |
Why is it so dark in here? | |
20. v. (dynamic/lexical "be", especially in progressive tenses, conjugated non-suppletively in the present tense, see usage notes) To exist or behave in a certain way. | |
"What do we do?" "We be ourselves.". | |
Why is he being nice to me? | |
firmly |
1. adv. (manner) In a firm or definite or strong manner. | |
She corrected him firmly but gently. | |
2. adv. (manner) Securely. | |
Tie the rope firmly to the post. | |
in |
1. prep. Used to indicate location, inclusion, or position within spatial, temporal or other limits. | |
2. prep. Contained by. | |
The dog is in the kennel. | |
3. prep. Within. | |
4. prep. Surrounded by. | |
We are in the enemy camp. Her plane is in the air. | |
5. prep. Part of; a member of. | |
One in a million. She's in band and orchestra. | |
6. prep. Pertaining to; with regard to. | |
What grade did he get in English? | |
Military letters should be formal in tone, but not stilted. | |
7. prep. At the end of a period of time. | |
They said they would call us in a week. | |
8. prep. Within a certain elapsed time | |
Are you able to finish this in three hours? The massacre resulted in over 1000 deaths in three hours. | |
9. prep. During (said of periods of time). | |
in the first week of December; Easter falls in the fourth lunar month; The country reached a high level of prosperity in his fi | |
10. prep. (grammar, phonetics, of sounds and letters) Coming at the end of a word. | |
English nouns in -ce form their plurals in -s. | |
11. prep. Into. | |
Less water gets in your boots this way. | |
12. prep. Used to indicate limit, qualification, condition, or circumstance. | |
In replacing the faucet washers, he felt he was making his contribution to the environment. | |
13. prep. Indicating an order or arrangement. | |
My fat rolls around in folds. | |
14. prep. Denoting a state of the subject. | |
He stalked away in anger. John is in a coma. | |
15. prep. Indicates, connotatively, a place-like form of someone's (or something's) personality, as his, her or its psychic and physical characteristics. | |
You've got a friend in me. He's met his match in her. | |
16. prep. Wearing (an item of clothing). | |
I glanced over at the pretty girl in the red dress. | |
17. prep. Used to indicate means, medium, format, genre, or instrumentality. | |
18. prep. (of something offered or given in an exchange) In the form of, in the denomination of. | |
Please pay me in cash — preferably in tens and twenties. | |
The deposit can be in any legal tender, even in gold. | |
Her generosity was rewarded in the success of its recipients. | |
19. prep. Used to indicate a language, script, tone, etc. of a text, speech, etc. | |
Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5" in C minor is among his most popular. | |
His speech was in French, but was simultaneously translated into eight languages. | |
When you write in cursive, it's illegible. | |
20. v. (obsolete, transitive) To enclose. | |
21. v. (obsolete, transitive) To take in; to harvest. | |
22. adv. (not comparable) Located indoors, especially at home or the office, or inside something. | |
Is Mr. Smith in? | |
23. adv. Moving to the interior of a defined space, such as a building or room. | |
Suddenly a strange man walked in. | |
24. adv. (sports) Still eligible to play, e.g. able to bat in cricket and baseball. | |
He went for the wild toss but wasn't able to stay in. | |
25. adv. (UK) Abbreviation of in aid of. | |
What's that in? | |
26. adv. After the beginning of something. | |
27. n. A position of power or a way to get it. | |
His parents got him an in with the company | |
28. n. (sport) The state of a batter/batsman who is currently batting – see innings | |
29. n. A re-entrant angle; a nook or corner. | |
30. adj. In fashion; popular. | |
Skirts are in this year. | |
31. adj. Incoming. | |
the in train | |
32. adj. (nautical, of the sails of a vessel) Furled or stowed. | |
33. adj. (legal) With privilege or possession; used to denote a holding, possession, or seisin. | |
in by descent; in by purchase; in of the seisin of her husband | |
34. adj. (cricket) Currently batting. | |
35. n. Inch. | |
charge |
1. n. The scope of someone's responsibility. | |
The child was in the nanny's charge. | |
2. n. Someone or something entrusted to one's care, such as a child to a babysitter or a student to a teacher. | |
The child was a charge of the nanny. | |
3. n. A load or burden; cargo. | |
The ship had a charge of colonists and their belongings. | |
4. n. The amount of money levied for a service. | |
There will be a charge of five dollars. | |
5. n. An instruction. | |
I gave him the charge to get the deal closed by the end of the month. | |
6. n. (military) A ground attack against a prepared enemy. | |
Pickett did not die leading his famous charge. | |
7. n. An accusation. | |
That's a slanderous charge of abuse of trust. | |
8. n. (physics, and chemistry) An electric charge. | |
9. n. (basketball) An offensive foul in which the player with the ball moves into a stationary defender. | |
10. n. A measured amount of powder and/or shot in a firearm cartridge. | |
11. n. (heraldry) An image displayed on an escutcheon. | |
12. n. A forceful forward movement. | |
13. n. (weaponry) A position (of a weapon) fitted for attack. | |
to bring a weapon to the charge | |
14. n. (farriery) A sort of plaster or ointment. | |
15. n. (obsolete) Weight; import; value. | |
16. n. (historical, or obsolete) A measure of thirty-six pigs of lead, each pig weighing about seventy pounds; a charre. | |
17. n. (ecclesiastical) An address given at a church service concluding a visitation. | |
18. v. To assign a duty or responsibility to. | |
19. v. To assign (a debit) to an account. | |
Let's charge this to marketing. | |
20. v. To pay on account, as by using a credit card. | |
Can I charge my purchase to my credit card? | |
Can I charge this purchase? | |
21. v. To require payment (of) (a price or fee, for goods, services, etc.). | |
to charge high for goods I won't charge you for the wheat | |
22. v. (possibly archaic) To sell at a given price. | |
to charge coal at $5 per unit | |
23. v. (law) To formally accuse (a person) of a crime. | |
I'm charging you with assault and battery. | |
24. v. To impute or ascribe. | |
25. v. To call to account; to challenge. | |
26. v. To place a burden or load on or in. | |
27. v. To ornament with or cause to bear. | |
to charge an architectural member with a moulding | |
28. v. (heraldry) To assume as a bearing. | |
He charges three roses. | |
29. v. (heraldry) To add to or represent on. | |
He charges his shield with three roses or. | |
30. v. To load equipment with material required for its use, as a firearm with powder, a fire hose with water, a chemical reactor with raw materials. | |
Charge your weapons; we're moving up. | |
31. v. To cause to take on an electric charge. | |
Rubbing amber with wool will charge it quickly. | |
32. v. To add energy to (a battery, or a device containing a battery). | |
He charged the battery overnight. | |
Don't forget to charge the drill. | |
I charge my phone every night. | |
33. v. (intransitive) (Of a battery or a device containing a battery) To gain energy. | |
The battery is still charging: I can't use it yet. | |
His cell phone charges very quickly, whereas mine takes forever. | |
34. v. (intransitive) To move forward quickly and forcefully, particularly in combat and/or on horseback. | |
35. v. (military, transitive and intransitive) To attack by moving forward quickly in a group. | |
The impetuous corps charged the enemy lines. | |
36. v. (basketball) To commit a charging foul. | |
37. v. (cricket, of a batsman) To take a few steps down the pitch towards the bowler as he delivers the ball, either to disrupt the length of the delivery, or | |
38. v. (transitive, of a hunting dog) To lie on the belly and be still (A command given by a hunter to a dog). | |