(~s, ~ing, ~ed, ~t, ~er, ~est)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
Note: American English uses the form '~ed' as the past tense and past participle. British English uses either '~ed' or '~t'.
1.
When you ~ in a particular direction, you bend your body in that direction.
Eileen ~ed across and opened the passenger door...
They stopped to ~ over a gate.
VERB: V adv/prep, V adv/prep
2.
If you ~ on or against someone or something, you rest against them so that they partly support your weight. If you ~ an object on or against something, you place the object so that it is partly supported by that thing.
She was feeling tired and was glad to ~ against him...
Lean the plants against a wall and cover the roots with peat...
VERB: V adv, V n adv/prep
3.
If you describe someone as ~, you mean that they are thin but look strong and healthy.
Like most athletes, she was ~ and muscular...
She watched the tall, ~ figure step into the car.
ADJ approval
4.
If meat is ~, it does not have very much fat.
It is a beautiful meat, very ~ and tender.
? fatty
ADJ
5.
If you describe an organization as ~, you mean that it has become more efficient and less wasteful by getting rid of staff, or by dropping projects which were unprofitable.
The value of the pound will force British companies to be ~er and fitter.
ADJ
6.
If you describe periods of time as ~, you mean that people have less of something such as money or are less successful than they used to be.
...the ~ years of the 1930s...
With fewer tourists in town, the taxi trade is going through its ~est patch for 30 years.
ADJ: usu ADJ n