(~s, ~ping, ~ped)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
If you take a ~, you lift your foot and put it down in a different place, for example when you are walking.
I took a ~ towards him...
She walked on a few ~s...
He heard ~s in the corridor.
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2.
If you ~ on something or ~ in a particular direction, you put your foot on the thing or move your foot in that direction.
This was the moment when Neil Armstrong became the first man to ~ on the Moon...
She accidentally ~ped on his foot on a crowded commuter train...
VERB: V prep/adv, V prep/adv
3.
Steps are a series of surfaces at increasing or decreasing heights, on which you put your feet in order to walk up or down to a different level.
This little room was along a passage and down some ~s...
A flight of stone ~s leads to the terrace.
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4.
A ~ is a raised flat surface in front of a door.
A little girl was sitting on the ~ of the end house...
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see also door~
5.
A ~ is one of a series of actions that you take in order to achieve something.
He greeted the agreement as the first ~ towards peace...
She is not content with her present lot and wishes to take ~s to improve it...
N-COUNT: oft N prep/adv
6.
A ~ in a process is one of a series of stages.
The next ~ is to put the theory into practice...
= stage
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7.
The ~s of a dance are the sequences of foot movements which make it up.
= movement
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8.
Someone’s ~ is the way they walk.
He quickened his ~...
N-SING: poss N
9.
If you stay one ~ ahead of someone or something, you manage to achieve more than they do or avoid competition or danger from them.
Successful travel is partly a matter of keeping one ~ ahead of the crowd...
PHRASE: PHR after v, v-link PHR
10.
If people who are walking or dancing are in ~, they are moving their feet forward at exactly the same time as each other. If they are out of ~, their feet are moving forward at different times.
They were almost the same height and they moved perfectly in ~...
PHRASE: PHR after v
11.
If people are in ~ with each other, their ideas or opinions are the same. If they are out of ~ with each other, their ideas or opinions are different.
Moscow is anxious to stay in ~ with Washington...
PHRASE: usu PHR with n
12.
If you tell someone to ~ on it, you are telling them to go faster or hurry up. (INFORMAL)
We’ve only got thirty-five minutes so ~ on it.
= get a move on
PHRASE
13.
If you do something ~ by ~, you do it by progressing gradually from one stage to the next.
I am not rushing things and I’m taking it ~ by ~...
Follow our simple ~-by-~ instructions.
PHRASE: PHR with v, PHR n
14.
If someone tells you to watch your ~, they are warning you to be careful about how you behave or what you say so that you do not get into trouble.
PHRASE