(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
A ~ is a word such as ‘two’, ‘nine’, or ‘twelve’, or a symbol such as 1, 3, or 47. You use ~s to say how many things you are referring to or where something comes in a series.
No, I don’t know the room ~...
Stan Laurel was born at ~ 3, Argyll Street...
The ~ 47 bus leaves in 10 minutes.
N-COUNT: usu with supp
2.
You use ~ with words such as ‘large’ or ‘small’ to say approximately how many things or people there are.
Quite a considerable ~ of interviews are going on...
I have had an enormous ~ of letters from single parents...
Growing ~s of people in the rural areas are too frightened to vote.
N-COUNT: adj N, usu N of n
3.
If there are a ~ of things or people, there are several of them. If there are any ~ of things or people, there is a large quantity of them.
I seem to remember that Sam told a ~ of lies...
There must be any ~ of people in my position.
N-SING: a/any N, usu N of n
4.
You can refer to someone’s or something’s position in a list of the most successful or most popular of a particular type of thing as, for example, ~ one or ~ two.
...the world ~ one, Tiger Woods...
Before you knew it, the single was at Number 90 in the US singles charts...
N-UNCOUNT: N num
5.
If a group of people or things ~s a particular total, that is how many there are.
They told me that their village ~ed 100...
This time the dead were ~ed in hundreds, not dozens.
VERB: V num, be V-ed in num, also V n in num
6.
A ~ is the series of ~s that you dial when you are making a telephone call.
Sarah sat down and dialled a ~.
...a list of names and telephone ~s...
My ~ is 414-3925...
‘You must have a wrong ~,’ she said. ‘There’s no one of that name here.’
N-COUNT
7.
You can refer to a short piece of music, a song, or a dance as a ~.
...‘Unforgettable’, a ~ that was written and performed in 1951...
Responsibility for the dance ~s was split between Robert Alton and the young George Balanchine.
N-COUNT
8.
If someone or something is ~ed among a particular group, they are believed to belong in that group. (FORMAL)
The Leicester Swannington Railway is ~ed among Britain’s railway pioneers...
He ~ed several Americans among his friends.
VERB: be V-ed among n, V n among n
9.
If you ~ something, you mark it with a ~, usually starting at 1.
He cut his paper up into tiny squares, and he ~ed each one...
VERB: V n
10.
see also opposite ~ , prime ~ , serial ~
11.
If you say that someone’s or something’s days are ~ed, you mean that they will not survive or be successful for much longer.
Critics believe his days are ~ed because audiences are tired of watching him.
PHRASE: V inflects, with poss
12.
If you refer to the ~s game, the ~s racket, or the ~s, you are referring to an illegal lottery or illegal betting. (AM)
PHRASE
see also ~s game
13.
safety in ~s: see safety