I. VERB USES
(~s, ~ing, ~t)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Please look at category 19 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.
1.
If you want to know what a word, code, signal, or gesture ~s, you want to know what it refers to or what its message is.
In modern Welsh, ‘glas’ ~s ‘blue’...
The red signal ~s you can shoot.
VERB: no cont, V n, V that
2.
If you ask someone what they ~, you are asking them to explain exactly what or who they are referring to or what they are intending to say.
Do you ~ me?...
I think he ~s that he does not want this marriage to turn out like his friend’s.
VERB: no cont, V n, V that
3.
If something ~s something to you, it is important to you in some way.
The idea that she witnessed this shameful incident ~t nothing to him...
It would ~ a lot to them to win.
VERB: no cont, V amount to n, it V amount to-inf, also V amount
4.
If one thing ~s another, it shows that the second thing exists or is true.
An enlarged prostate does not necessarily ~ cancer...
Just because he has a beard doesn’t necessarily ~ he’s a hippy.
VERB: no cont, V n, V that
5.
If one thing ~s another, the first thing leads to the second thing happening.
It would almost certainly ~ the end of NATO...
The change will ~ that the country no longer has full diplomatic relations with other states.
VERB: no cont, V n, V that
6.
If doing one thing ~s doing another, it involves doing the second thing.
Managing well ~s communicating well.
VERB: V -ing
7.
If you say that you ~ what you are saying, you are telling someone that you are serious about it and are not joking, exaggerating, or just being polite.
He says you’re fired if you’re not back at work on Friday. And I think he ~t it...
VERB: no cont, V n
8.
If you say that someone ~t to do something, you are saying that they did it deliberately.
I didn’t ~ to hurt you...
I can see why you believed my letters were threatening but I never ~t them to be.
= intend
VERB: no cont, V to-inf, V n to-inf
9.
If you say that someone did not ~ any harm, offence, or disrespect, you are saying that they did not intend to upset or offend people or to cause problems, even though they may in fact have done so.
I’m sure he didn’t ~ any harm...
= intend
VERB: no cont, with brd-neg, V n
10.
If you ~ to do something, you intend or plan to do it.
Summer is the perfect time to catch up on the new books you ~t to read...
= intend
VERB: no cont, V to-inf
11.
If you say that something was ~t to happen, you believe that it was made to happen by God or fate, and did not just happen by chance.
John was constantly reassuring me that we were ~t to be together.
VERB: usu passive, no cont, be V-ed to-inf
12.
You say ‘I ~’ when making clearer something that you have just said. (SPOKEN)
It was his idea. Gordon’s, I ~...
PHRASE: PHR with cl
13.
You can use ‘I ~’ to introduce a statement, especially one that justifies something that you have just said. (SPOKEN)
I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. I ~, I was the one who asked him...
PHRASE: PHR with cl
14.
You say I ~ when correcting something that you have just said. (SPOKEN)
It was law or classics–I ~ English or classics.
PHRASE: PHR with cl
15.
If you know what it ~s to do something, you know everything that is involved in a particular activity or experience, especially the effect that it has on you.
I know what it ~s to lose a child under such tragic circumstances.
PHRASE: Vs inflect, oft PHR to-inf
16.
If a name, word, or phrase ~s something to you, you have heard it before and you know what it refers to.
‘Oh, Gairdner,’ he said, as if that ~t something to him...
PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n
17.
If you say that someone ~s well, you ~ they are trying to be kind and helpful, even though they might be causing someone problems or upsetting them.
I know you ~ well, but I can manage by myself.
PHRASE: V inflects
18.
You use ‘you ~’ in a question to check that you have understood what someone has said.
What accident? You ~ Christina’s?...
‘What if I had said no?’ ‘About the apartment, you ~?’
PHRASE: PHR with cl
19.
to ~ business: see business
if you know what I ~: see know
see also ~ing , ~s , ~t
II. ADJECTIVE USES
(~er, ~est)
1.
If you describe someone as ~, you are being critical of them because they are unwilling to spend much money or to use very much of a particular thing. (mainly BRIT; in AM, use cheap , stingy )
Don’t be ~ with fabric, otherwise curtains will end up looking skimpy.
= stingy
ADJ disapproval
~ness
This very careful attitude to money can sometimes border on ~ness.
N-UNCOUNT
2.
If you describe an amount as ~, you are saying that it is very small. (BRIT)
...the ~est grant possible from the local council.
ADJ disapproval
3.
If someone is being ~, they are being unkind to another person, for example by not allowing them to do something.
The little girls had locked themselves in upstairs because Mack had been ~ to them...
I’d feel ~ saying no.
ADJ: usu v-link ADJ, oft ADJ to n
~ly
He had been behaving very ~ly to his girlfriend.
ADV: usu ADV with v, also ADV adj
4.
If you describe a person or animal as ~, you are saying that they are very bad-tempered and cruel. (mainly AM)
...the ~est fighter in the world.
ADJ
5.
If you describe a place as ~, you think that it looks poor and dirty.
He was raised on the ~ streets of the central market district of Panama City.
ADJ: usu ADJ n
6.
You can use no ~ in expressions such as ‘no ~ writer’ and ‘no ~ golfer’ to indicate that someone does something well. (INFORMAL)
She was no ~ performer on a variety of other instruments...
PHRASE: PHR n approval
7.
You can use no ~ in expressions such as ‘no ~ achievement’ and ‘no ~ task’ to indicate that someone has done something they deserve to be proud of.
To destroy 121 enemy aircraft is no ~ record...
PHRASE: PHR n
III. NOUN USE
The ~ is a number that is the average of a set of numbers.
Take a hundred and twenty values and calculate the ~.
...the ~ score for 26-year-olds.
= average
N-SING: the N, oft N n
see also ~s