(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
If you ~ a particular person or thing, you choose that one.
Mr Nowell had ~ed ten people to interview for six sales jobs in London...
I had deliberately ~ed a city with a tropical climate.
VERB: V n, V n
2.
You can refer to the best things or people in a particular group as the ~ of that group.
The boys here are the ~ of the under-15 cricketers in the country...
N-SING: the N, usu the N of n
3.
When you ~ flowers, fruit, or leaves, you break them off the plant or tree and collect them.
She used to ~ flowers in the Cromwell Road...
VERB: V n
4.
If you ~ something from a place, you remove it from there with your fingers or your hand.
He ~ed the napkin from his lap and placed it alongside his plate...
VERB: V n prep
5.
If you ~ your nose or teeth, you remove substances from inside your nose or between your teeth.
Edgar, don’t ~ your nose, dear...
VERB: V n
6.
If you ~ a fight or quarrel with someone, you deliberately cause one.
He ~ed a fight with a waiter and landed in jail...
VERB: V n with n
7.
If someone such as a thief ~s a lock, they open it without a key, for example by using a piece of wire.
He ~ed each lock deftly, and rifled the papers within each drawer.
VERB: V n
8.
A ~ is the same as a ~axe .
N-COUNT
9.
see also hand-~ , ice ~
10.
If you ~ and choose, you carefully choose only things that you really want and reject the others.
We, the patients, cannot ~ and choose our doctors.
PHRASE: Vs inflect, usu PHR n
11.
If you have your ~ of a group of things, you are able to choose any of them that you want.
Here is an actress who could have her ~ of any part...
PHRASE: V inflects, PHR of n
12.
If you are told to take your ~, you can choose any one that you like from a group of things.
Accountants can take their ~ of company cars...
PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR of/from n
13.
If you ~ your way across an area, you walk across it very carefully in order to avoid obstacles or dangerous things.
The girls were afraid of snakes and ~ed their way along with extreme caution...
PHRASE: V inflects, PHR prep/adv
14.
to ~ someone’s brains: see brain
to ~ holes in something : see hole
to ~ someone’s pocket: see pocket