I. ADVERB USES
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Note: In addition to the uses shown below, '~' is also used in phrasal verbs such as ‘date ~’ and ‘fall ~ on’.
Please look at category 17 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.
1.
If you move ~, you move in the opposite direction to the one in which you are facing or in which you were moving before.
The photographers drew ~ to let us view the body...
She stepped ~ from the door expectantly...
He pushed her away and she fell ~ on the wooden bench...
ADV: ADV after v, oft ADV prep
2.
If you go ~ somewhere, you return to where you were before.
I went ~ to bed...
I’m due ~ in London by late afternoon...
Smith changed his mind and moved ~ home...
I’ll be ~ as soon as I can...
He made a round-trip to the terminal and ~.
ADV: ADV after v, be ADV, oft ADV prep/adv
3.
If someone or something is ~ in a particular state, they were in that state before and are now in it again.
The rail company said it expected services to get slowly ~ to normal...
Denise hopes to be ~ at work by the time her daughter is one...
ADV: ADV after v, be ADV, oft ADV prep
4.
If you give or put something ~, you return it to the person who had it or to the place where it was before you took it. If you get or take something ~, you then have it again after not having it for a while.
She handed the knife ~...
Put it ~ in the freezer...
You’ll get your money ~.
ADV: ADV after v, oft ADV prep
5.
If you put a clock or watch ~, you change the time shown on it so that it shows an earlier time, for example when the time changes to winter time or standard time.
ADV: ADV after v
6.
If you write or call ~, you write to or telephone someone after they have written to or telephoned you. If you look ~ at someone, you look at them after they have started looking at you.
They wrote ~ to me and they told me that I didn’t have to do it...
If the phone rings say you’ll call ~ after dinner...
Lee looked at Theodora. She stared ~.
ADV: ADV after v, oft ADV prep
7.
You can say that you go or come ~ to a particular point in a conversation to show that you are mentioning or discussing it again.
Can I come ~ to the question of policing once again?...
Going ~ to the school, how many staff are there?
ADV: ADV after v, ADV to n
8.
If something is or comes ~, it is fashionable again after it has been unfashionable for some time.
Short skirts are ~...
Consensus politics could easily come ~ into fashion.
ADV: ADV after v, be ADV, oft ADV prep
9.
If someone or something is kept or situated ~ from a place, they are at a distance away from it.
Keep ~ from the edge of the platform...
I’m a few miles ~ from the border...
He started for Dot’s bedroom and Myrtle held him ~.
ADV: ADV after v, be ADV, oft ADV from n
10.
If something is held or tied ~, it is held or tied so that it does not hang loosely over something.
The curtains were held ~ by tassels.
ADV: ADV after v
11.
If you lie or sit ~, you move your body ~wards into a relaxed sloping or flat position, with your head and body resting on something.
She lay ~ and stared at the ceiling...
She leaned ~ in her chair and smiled.
? forward
ADV: ADV after v
12.
If you look or shout ~ at someone or something, you turn to look or shout at them when they are behind you.
Nick looked ~ over his shoulder and then stopped, frowning...
He called ~ to her.
ADV: ADV after v, oft ADV prep
13.
You use ~ in expressions like ~ in London or ~ at the house when you are giving an account, to show that you are going to start talking about what happened or was happening in the place you mention.
Meanwhile, ~ in London, Palace Pictures was collapsing...
Later, ~ at home, the telephone rang.
ADV: ADV with v, ADV prep
14.
If you talk about something that happened ~ in the past or several years ~, you are emphasizing that it happened quite a long time ago.
The story starts ~ in 1950, when I was five...
He contributed ?50m to the project a few years ~.
ADV: ADV with v, ADV prep, n ADV emphasis
15.
If you think ~ to something that happened in the past, you remember it or try to remember it.
I thought ~ to the time in 1975 when my son was desperately ill...
ADV: ADV after v, ADV to n
16.
If someone moves ~ and forth, they repeatedly move in one direction and then in the opposite direction.
He paced ~ and forth...
PHRASE: PHR after v
17.
to cast your mind ~: see mind
II. OPPOSITE OF FRONT; NOUN AND ADJECTIVE USES
(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Please look at category 17 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.
1.
A person’s or animal’s ~ is the part of their body between their head and their legs that is on the opposite side to their chest and stomach.
She turned her ~ to the audience...
Three of the victims were shot in the ~...
N-COUNT: oft poss N
2.
The ~ of something is the side or part of it that is towards the rear or farthest from the front. The ~ of something is normally not used or seen as much as the front.
...a room at the ~ of the shop...
She raised her hands to the ~ of her neck...
Smooth the mixture with the ~ of a soup spoon...
? front
N-COUNT: usu sing, oft the N of n
3.
Back is used to refer to the side or part of something that is towards the rear or farthest from the front.
He opened the ~ door...
Ann could remember sitting in the ~ seat of their car.
...the path leading to the ~ garden.
? front
ADJ: ADJ n
4.
The ~ of a chair or sofa is the part that you lean against when you sit on it.
There was a neatly folded pink sweater on the ~ of the chair.
N-COUNT: usu sing, with supp
5.
The ~ of something such as a piece of paper or an envelope is the side which is less important.
Send your answers on the ~ of a postcard.
? front
N-COUNT: the N, usu sing
6.
The ~ of a book is the part nearest the end, where you can find the index or the notes, for example.
...the index at the ~ of the book...
? front
N-COUNT: the N, usu sing
7.
You can use ~ in expressions such as round the ~ and out the ~ to refer generally to the area behind a house or other building. (BRIT SPOKEN)
He had chickens and things round the ~...
N-SING: prep the N
8.
You use ~ in expressions such as out ~ to refer to the area behind a house or other building. You also use in ~ to refer to the rear part of something, especially a car or building. (AM)
Dan informed her that he would be out ~ on the patio cleaning his shoes...
Catlett got behind the wheel and I sat in ~...
N-UNCOUNT: prep N, oft N of n
9.
In team games such as football and hockey, a ~ is a player who is concerned mainly with preventing the other team from scoring goals, rather than scoring goals for their own team.
= defender
? forward
N-COUNT
10.
In American football, a ~ is a player who stands behind the front line, runs with the ball and attacks rather than defends.
N-COUNT
11.
If you say that something was done behind someone’s ~, you disapprove of it because it was done without them knowing about it, in an unfair or dishonest way.
You eat her food, enjoy her hospitality and then criticize her behind her ~.
PHRASE: PHR after v disapproval
12.
If you break the ~ of a task or problem, you do the most difficult part of what is necessary to complete the task or solve the problem.
It seems at least that we’ve broken the ~ of inflation in this country...
PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n
13.
If you are wearing something ~ to front, you are wearing it with the ~ of it at the front of your body. If you do something ~ to front, you do it the wrong way around, starting with the part that should come last. (mainly BRIT; in AM, use ~ward )
He wears his baseball cap ~ to front...
The picture was printed ~ to front.
= ~wards
PHRASE: PHR after v
14.
If you say that one thing happens on the ~ of another thing, you mean that it happens after that other thing and in addition to it.
The cuts, if approved, come on the ~ of a difficult eight years that have seen three London fire stations closed.
PHRASE
15.
If someone is on the ~ foot, or if something puts them on the ~ foot, they feel threatened and act defensively.
From now on Labour will be on the ~ foot on the subject of welfare.
...another scheme designed purely to put the Scots Nationalists on the ~ foot.
PHRASE
16.
If someone or something puts your ~ up or gets your ~ up, they annoy you. (INFORMAL)
Some food labelling practices really get my ~ up.
= irritate
PHRASE: V inflects
17.
to take a ~ seat: see seat
III. VERB USES
(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
If a building ~s onto something, the ~ of it faces in the direction of that thing or touches the edge of that thing.
We live in a ground floor flat which ~s onto a busy street...
His garden ~s onto a school.
VERB: V onto n, V onto n
2.
When you ~ a car or other vehicle somewhere or when it ~s somewhere, it moves ~wards.
He ~ed his car out of the drive...
I heard the engines revving as the lorries ~ed and turned.
= reverse
VERB: V n prep/adv, V, also V n
3.
If you ~ a person or a course of action, you support them, for example by voting for them or giving them money.
There is a new witness to ~ his claim that he is a victim of mistaken identity.
= support
VERB: V n
-~ed
...government-~ed loans to Egypt.
COMB in ADJ
4.
If you ~ a particular person, team, or horse in a competition, you predict that they will win, and usually you bet money that they will win.
Roland Nilsson last night ~ed Sheffield Wednesday to win the UEFA Cup...
It is upsetting to discover that you have ~ed a loser.
VERB: V n to-inf, V n
5.
If a singer is ~ed by a band or by other singers, they provide the musical ~ground for the singer.
She was ~ed by acoustic guitar, bass and congas.
VERB: usu passive, be V-ed by n
6.
see also ~ing