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. | |
were |
1. v. Second-person singular simple past tense indicative of be. | |
John, you were the only person to see him. | |
2. v. First-person plural simple past tense indicative of be. | |
We were about to leave. | |
3. v. Second-person plural simple past tense indicative of be. | |
Mary and John, you were right. | |
4. v. Third-person plural simple past tense indicative of be. | |
They were a fine group. | |
They were to be the best of friends from that day on. | |
5. v. Simple imperfect subjunctive in all persons of be. | |
I wish that it were Sunday. | |
I wish that I were with you. | |
* with "if" omitted, put first in an "if" clause: | |
*: Were it simply that she wore a hat, I would not be upset at all. (= If it were simply...) | |
*: Were father a king, we would have war. (= If father were a king,...) | |
6. v. (Northern England) was. | |
7. n. (obsolete) A fine for slaying a man; weregild. | |
8. n. (fandom) (The collective name for any kind of person that changes into another form under certain conditions, including the werewolf.) | |
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? | |
Saints |
1. n. plural of Saint, title of a saint. | |
2. n. plural of saint | |
3. v. third-person singular present indicative of saint | |
saint |
1. n. A person whom a church or another religious group has officially recognised as especially holy or godly; one eminent for piety and virtue. | |
Kateri Tekakwitha was proclaimed a saint. | |
2. n. (figuratively, by extension) A person with positive qualities; one who does good. | |
Dorothy Day was a living saint. | |
Thanks for looking after the house while I'm away. You're a saint! | |
3. n. One who is sanctified or made holy; a person who is separated unto God’s service. | |
4. n. One of the blessed in heaven. | |
5. n. (archaic) A holy object. | |
It is ruine to a man to deuour saints, and afterward to retract the vowes. | |
6. v. (nonstandard) To canonize, to formally recognize someone as a saint. | |
Many wish to see Pope John Paul II sainted immediately. | |
next |
1. adj. nearest, Nearest in place or position, having nothing similar intervening; adjoining. | |
2. adj. Nearest in order, succession, or rank; immediately preceding or following in order. | |
the next chapter; the next man I see; the next week; the Sunday next before Easter | |
3. adj. (figuratively) Following in a hypothetical sequence of some kind. | |
4. det. The one immediately following the current or most recent one | |
Next week would be a good time to meet. | |
I'll know better next time. | |
5. det. Closest to seven days (one week) in the future. | |
The party is next Tuesday; that is, not this Tuesday, but nine days from now. | |
6. adv. In a time, place or sequence closest or following. | |
They live in the next closest house. | |
It's the next best thing to ice cream. | |
Next, we stripped off the old paint. | |
7. adv. On the first subsequent occasion | |
Financial panic, earthquakes, oil spills, riots. What comes next? | |
When we next meet, you'll be married. | |
8. prep. On the side of; next to. | |
9. n. The one that follows after this one. | |
Next, please, don't hold up the queue! | |
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 | |
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. | |
kids |
1. n. plural of kid | |
2. v. third-person singular present indicative of kid | |
kid |
1. n. A young goat. | |
He treated the oxen like they didn't exist, but he treated the goat kid like a puppy. | |
2. n. Of a female goat, the state of being pregnant: in kid. | |
3. n. Kidskin. | |
4. n. The meat of a young goat. | |
5. n. A young antelope. | |
6. n. (informal) a child (usually), teenager, or young adult; a juvenile | |
She's a kid. It's normal for her to have imaginary friends. | |
7. n. (colloquial) An inexperienced person or one in a junior position. | |
8. n. (nautical) A small wooden mess tub in which sailors received their food. | |
9. n. (informal) A person whose childhood took place in a particular decade or area. | |
Only '90s kids will remember this toy. | |
He's been living in Los Angeles for years now, but he's a Florida kid. | |
10. n. (informal) One's son or daughter, regardless of age. | |
He was their youngest kid. | |
11. n. (in the vocative) Used as a form of address for a child, teenager or young adult | |
No, kid, you didn't do anything wrong; they did! | |
12. n. (dated) A deception; an act of kidding somebody. | |
13. v. (transitive, colloquial) To make a fool of (someone). | |
14. v. (transitive, colloquial) To make a joke with (someone). | |
15. v. (intransitive) Of a goat, to give birth to kids. | |
16. v. (intransitive, colloquial) To joke. | |
You're kidding! | |
Only kidding | |
17. n. A fagot; a bundle of heath and furze. | |