(~s, ~ting, ~ted)
1.
A ~ is a very small round mark, for example one that is used as the top part of the letter ‘i’, as a full stop, or as a decimal point.
N-COUNT
2.
You can refer to something that you can see in the distance and that looks like a small round mark as a ~.
Soon they were only ~s above the hard line of the horizon.
= speck, spot
N-COUNT
3.
When things ~ a place or an area, they are scattered or spread all over it.
Small coastal towns ~ the landscape.
VERB: V n
4.
see also ~ted , polka ~s
5.
If you arrive somewhere or do something on the ~, you arrive there or do it at exactly the time that you were supposed to.
They appeared on the ~ of 9.50 pm as always...
= punctually
PHRASE
6.
If you say that someone ~s the i’s and crosses the t’s, you mean that they pay great attention to every small detail in a task; often used to express your annoyance because such detailed work seems unnecessary and takes a very long time.
PHRASE: Vs inflect