(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
A ~ is one of the seven twenty-four hour periods of time in a week.
N-COUNT
2.
Day is the time when it is light, or the time when you are up and doing things.
27 million working ~s are lost each year due to work accidents and sickness...
He arranged for me to go down to London one ~ a week...
The snack bar is open during the ~.
? night
N-VAR
3.
You can refer to a particular period in history as a particular ~ or as particular ~s.
He began to talk about the Ukraine of his uncle’s ~...
She is doing just fine these ~s.
N-COUNT: with supp
4.
If something happens ~ after ~, it happens every ~ without stopping.
The newspaper job had me doing the same thing ~ after ~.
PHRASE
5.
In this ~ and age means in modern times.
Even in this ~ and age the old attitudes persist.
PHRASE
6.
If you say that something has seen better ~s, you mean that it is old and in poor condition.
The tweed jacket she wore had seen better ~s.
PHRASE: V inflects
7.
If you call it a ~, you decide to stop what you are doing because you are tired of it or because it is not successful.
Faced with mounting debts, the decision to call it a ~ was inevitable...
PHRASE: V inflects
8.
If someone carries the ~, they are the winner in a contest such as a battle, debate, or sporting competition. (JOURNALISM)
For the time being, the liberals seem to have carried the ~.
PHRASE: V inflects
9.
If you say that something has had its ~, you mean that the period during which it was most successful or popular has now passed.
Beat music may finally have had its ~...
PHRASE: V inflects
10.
If something makes your ~, it makes you feel very happy. (INFORMAL)
Come on, Bill. Send Tom a card and make his ~...
PHRASE: V inflects
11.
One ~ or some ~ or one of these ~s means at some time in the future.
I too dreamed of living in London one ~...
I hope some ~ you will find the woman who will make you happy...
PHRASE: PHR with cl
12.
If you say that something happened the other ~, you mean that it happened a few ~s ago.
I phoned your office the other ~...
PHRASE: PHR with cl
13.
If someone or something saves the ~ in a situation which seems likely to fail, they manage to make it successful.
...this story about how he saved the ~ at his daughter’s birth~ party...
PHRASE: V inflects
14.
If something happens from ~ to ~ or ~ by ~, it happens each ~.
Your needs can differ from ~ to ~...
I live for the moment, ~ by ~, not for the past.
PHRASE
15.
If it is a month or a year to the ~ since a particular thing happened, it is exactly a month or a year since it happened.
It was January 19, a year to the ~ since he had arrived in Singapore...
PHRASE: amount PHR
16.
To this ~ means up until and including the present time.
To this ~ young Zulu boys practise fighting.
PHRASE: PHR with cl
17.
If a particular person, group, or thing wins the ~, they win a battle, struggle, or competition. If they lose the ~, they are defeated. (mainly JOURNALISM)
His determination and refusal to back down had won the ~...
PHRASE: V inflects
18.
If you say that a task is all in a ~’s work for someone, you mean that they do not mind doing it although it may be difficult, because it is part of their job or because they often do it.
For war reporters, dodging snipers’ bullets is all in a ~’s work...
PHRASE: usu v-link PHR, oft PHR for n
19.
your ~ in court: see court
it’s early ~s: see early
at the end of the ~: see end
late in the ~: see late
someone’s ~s are numbered: see number
the good old ~s: see old