(~s, coursing, ~d)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
Course is often used in the expression ‘of ~’, or instead of ‘of ~’ in informal spoken English. See of ~ .
2.
The ~ of a vehicle, especially a ship or aircraft, is the route along which it is travelling.
Aircraft can avoid each other by going up and down, as well as by altering ~ to left or right...
The tug was seaward of the Hakai Passage on a ~ that diverged from the Calvert Island coastline.
N-UNCOUNT: also a N
3.
A ~ of action is an action or a series of actions that you can do in a particular situation.
My best ~ of action was to help Gill by being loyal, loving and endlessly sympathetic...
Vietnam is trying to decide on its ~ for the future.
N-COUNT: usu sing
4.
You can refer to the way that events develop as, for example, the ~ of history or the ~ of events.
...a series of decisive naval battles which altered the ~ of history...
N-SING: the N of n
5.
A ~ is a series of lessons or lectures on a particular subject.
...a ~ in business administration...
I’m shortly to begin a ~ on the modern novel.
N-COUNT: oft N in/on n
see also access ~ , correspondence ~ , refresher ~ , sandwich ~
6.
A ~ of medical treatment is a series of treatments that a doctor gives someone.
Treatment is supplemented with a ~ of antibiotics to kill the bacterium...
N-COUNT: N of n
7.
A ~ is one part of a meal.
The lunch was excellent, especially the first ~.
...a three-~ dinner.
N-COUNT: usu supp N
8.
In sport, a ~ is an area of land where races are held or golf is played, or the land over which a race takes place.
Only 12 seconds separated the first three riders on the Bickerstaffe ~...
N-COUNT: usu with supp
9.
The ~ of a river is the channel along which it flows.
Romantic chateaux and castles overlook the river’s twisting ~.
N-COUNT
10.
If something happens in the ~ of a particular period of time, it happens during that period of time.
In the ~ of the 1930s steel production in Britain approximately doubled...
We struck up a conversation, in the ~ of which it emerged that he was a sailing man.
= during
PREP-PHRASE
11.
If you do something as a matter of ~, you do it as part of your normal work or way of life.
If police are carrying arms as a matter of ~ then doesn’t it encourage criminals to carry them?
PHRASE: PHR after v
12.
If a ship or aircraft is on ~, it is travelling along the correct route. If it is off ~, it is no longer travelling along the correct route.
The ill fated ship was sent off ~ into shallow waters and rammed by another vessel.
PHRASE: PHR after v, v-link PHR
13.
If you are on ~ for something, you are likely to achieve it.
The company is on ~ for profits of ?20m in the next financial year.
PREP-PHRASE: usu v-link PREP
14.
If something runs its ~ or takes its ~, it develops naturally and comes to a natural end.
They estimated that between 17,000 and 20,000 cows would die before the epidemic had run its ~...
PHRASE: V inflects
15.
If you stay the ~, you finish something that you have started, even though it has become very difficult.
The oldest president in American history had stayed the ~ for two terms.
PHRASE: V inflects
16.
If something changes or becomes true in the ~ of time, it changes or becomes true over a long period of time.
In the ~ of time, many of their myths become entangled.
PHRASE: PHR with cl
17.
in due ~: see due