I. NOUN USES AND PHRASES
(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Please look at category 49 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.
1.
Your ~s are the parts of your body at the end of your arms. Each ~ has four fingers and a thumb.
I put my ~ into my pocket and pulled out the letter...
Sylvia, camera in ~, asked, ‘Where do we go first?’
N-COUNT
2.
The ~ of someone or something is their influence in an event or situation.
The ~ of the military authorities can be seen in the entire electoral process...
N-SING: with poss
3.
If you say that something is in a particular person’s ~s, you mean that they are looking after it, own it, or are responsible for it.
He is leaving his north London business in the ~s of a colleague...
We’re in safe ~s...
N-PLURAL: usu in/into N
4.
If you ask someone for a ~ with something, you are asking them to help you in what you are doing.
Come and give me a ~ in the garden...
N-SING: a N, oft N with n
5.
A ~ is someone, usually a man, who does hard physical work, for example in a factory or on a farm, as part of a group of people who all do similar work.
He now works as a farm ~...
N-COUNT: usu with supp
6.
If someone asks an audience to give someone a ~, they are asking the audience to clap loudly, usually before or after that person performs.
Let’s give ’em a big ~.
N-SING: a N
7.
If a man asks for a woman’s ~ in marriage, he asks her or her parents for permission to marry her. (OLD-FASHIONED)
He came to ask Usha’s father for her ~ in marriage.
N-COUNT: usu sing, poss N, oft N in n
8.
In a game of cards, your ~ is the set of cards that you are holding in your ~ at a particular time or the cards that are dealt to you at the beginning of the game.
He carefully inspected his ~.
N-COUNT
9.
A ~ is a measurement of four inches, which is used for measuring the height of a horse from its front feet to its shoulders.
I had a very good 14.2 ~s pony, called Brandy.
N-COUNT: usu num N
10.
The ~s of a clock or watch are the thin pieces of metal or plastic that indicate what time it is.
N-COUNT
11.
If something is at ~, near at ~, or close at ~, it is very near in place or time.
Having the right equipment at ~ will be enormously helpful...
PHRASE: PHR after v, v-link PHR
12.
If someone experiences a particular kind of treatment, especially unpleasant treatment, at the ~s of a person or organization, they receive it from them.
The civilian population were suffering greatly at the ~s of the security forces.
PREP-PHRASE: PREP n
13.
If you do something by ~, you do it using your ~s rather than a machine.
Each pleat was stitched in place by ~.
= manually
PHRASE: PHR after v
14.
When something changes ~s, its ownership changes, usually because it is sold to someone else.
The firm has changed ~s many times over the years.
PHRASE: V inflects
15.
If you have someone eating out of your ~, they are completely under your control.
Parker could have customers eating out of his ~.
PHRASE: V and N inflect
16.
If you force someone’s ~, you force them to act sooner than they want to, or to act in public when they would prefer to keep their actions secret.
He blamed the press for forcing his ~.
PHRASE: V and N inflect
17.
If you have your ~s full with something, you are very busy because of it.
She had her ~s full with new arrivals.
PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR with n
18.
If someone gives you a free ~, they give you the freedom to use your own judgment and to do exactly as you wish.
He gave Stephanie a free ~ in the decoration.
PHRASE: PHR after v
19.
If you get your ~s on something or lay your ~s on something, you manage to find it or obtain it, usually after some difficulty. (INFORMAL)
Patty began reading everything she could get her ~s on.
PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n
20.
If you work ~ in glove with someone, you work very closely with them.
The UN inspectors work ~ in glove with the Western intelligence agencies.
PHRASE: usu PHR with n
21.
If two people are ~ in ~, they are holding each other’s nearest ~, usually while they are walking or sitting together. People often do this to show their affection for each other.
I saw them making their way, ~ in ~, down the path.
PHRASE: usu PHR after v, PHR with cl
22.
If two things go ~ in ~, they are closely connected and cannot be considered separately from each other.
For us, research and teaching go ~ in ~...
PHRASE: usu PHR after v, v-link PHR, oft PHR with n
23.
If you have a ~ in something such as an event or activity, you are involved in it.
He thanked all who had a ~ in his release.
PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n
24.
If you say that someone such as the ruler of a country treats people with a heavy ~, you are criticizing them because they are very strict and severe with them.
Henry and Richard both ruled with a heavy ~.
PHRASE: usu with PHR disapproval
25.
If two people are holding ~s, they are holding each other’s nearest ~, usually while they are walking or sitting together. People often do this to show their affection for each other.
She approached a young couple holding ~s on a bench.
PHRASE: V inflects, pl-n PHR, PHR with n
26.
If you ask someone to hold your ~ at an event that you are worried about, you ask them to support you by being there with you. (INFORMAL)
I don’t need anyone to hold my ~.
PHRASE: V and N inflect
27.
In a competition, if someone has games or matches in ~, they have more games or matches left to play than their opponent and therefore have the possibility of scoring more points. (BRIT)
Wales are three points behind Romania in the group but have a game in ~.
PHRASE: n PHR
28.
If you have time or money in ~, you have more time or money than you need. (BRIT)
Hughes finished with 15 seconds in ~.
PHRASE: usu with amount PHR
29.
The job or problem in ~ is the job or problem that you are dealing with at the moment.
The business in ~ was approaching some kind of climax.
PHRASE: n PHR, v-link PHR
30.
If a situation is in ~, it is under control.
The Olympic organisers say that matters are well in ~.
PHRASE: v-link PHR, PHR after v
31.
If you lend someone a ~, you help them.
I’d be glad to lend a ~.
PHRASE: V inflects
32.
If you tell someone to keep their ~s off something or to take their ~s off it, you are telling them in a rather aggressive way not to touch it or interfere with it.
Keep your ~s off my milk.
PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n
33.
If you do not know something off ~, you do not know it without having to ask someone else or look it up in a book. (SPOKEN)
I can’t think of any off ~.
PHRASE: usu with brd-neg, PHR after v
34.
If you have a problem or responsibility on your ~s, you have to deal with it. If it is off your ~s, you no longer have to deal with it.
They now have yet another drug problem on their ~s...
She would like the worry of dealing with her affairs taken off her ~s.
PHRASE: PHR after v
35.
If someone or something is on ~, they are near and able to be used if they are needed.
The Bridal Department will have experts on ~ to give you all the help and advice you need...
= available
PHRASE: PHR after v, v-link PHR
36.
You use on the one ~ to introduce the first of two contrasting points, facts, or ways of looking at something. It is always followed later by on the other ~ or ‘on the other’.
On the one ~, if the body doesn’t have enough cholesterol, we would not be able to survive. On the other ~, if the body has too much cholesterol, the excess begins to line the arteries.
PHRASE: PHR with cl
37.
You use on the other ~ to introduce the second of two contrasting points, facts, or ways of looking at something.
Well, all right, hospitals lose money. But, on the other ~, if people are healthy, don’t think of it as losing money; think of it as saving lives.
PHRASE
38.
If a person or a situation gets out of ~, you are no longer able to control them.
His drinking had got out of ~.
PHRASE: v-link PHR
39.
If you dismiss or reject something out of ~, you do so immediately and do not consider believing or accepting it.
I initially dismissed the idea out of ~.
PHRASE: PHR after v
40.
If you play into someone’s ~s, you do something which they want you to do and which places you in their power. (JOURNALISM)
He is playing into the ~s of racists.
PHRASE: V inflects
41.
If you show your ~, you show how much power you have and the way you intend to act.
He has grown more serious about running for president, although he refuses to show his ~.
PHRASE: V and N inflect
42.
If you take something or someone in ~, you take control or responsibility over them, especially in order to improve them.
I hope that Parliament will soon take the NHS in ~...
PHRASE: V inflects
43.
If you say that your ~s are tied, you mean that something is preventing you from acting in the way that you want to.
Politicians are always saying that they want to help us but their ~s are tied...
PHRASE: V inflects
44.
If you have something to ~ or near to ~, you have it with you or near you, ready to use when needed.
You may want to keep this brochure safe, so you have it to ~ whenever you may need it.
PHRASE: PHR after v, v-link PHR
45.
If you try your ~ at an activity, you attempt to do it, usually for the first time.
After he left school, he tried his ~ at a variety of jobs–bricklayer, cinema usher, coal man.
PHRASE: V and N inflect, usu PHR at n/-ing
46.
If you turn your ~ to something such as a practical activity, you learn about it and do it for the first time.
...a person who can turn his ~ to anything.
PHRASE: V and N inflect, PHR n
47.
If you wash your ~s of someone or something, you refuse to be involved with them any more or to take responsibility for them.
He seems to have washed his ~s of the job.
PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n
48.
If you win ~s down, you win very easily.
PHRASE: V inflects
49.
with one’s bare ~s: see bare
to overplay one’s ~: see overplay
to shake someone’s ~: see shake
to shake ~s: see shake
see also ~-to-mouth
II. VERB USES
(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
If you ~ something to someone, you pass it to them.
He ~ed me a little rectangle of white paper...
He took a thick envelope from an inside pocket and ~ed it to me.
VERB: V n n, V n to n
2.
You say things such as ‘You have to ~ it to her’ or ‘You’ve got to ~ it to them’ when you admire someone for their skills or achievements and you think they deserve a lot of praise. (INFORMAL)
You’ve got to ~ it to Melissa, she certainly gets around.
PHRASE approval