(~ing)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
When you ~ something such as a book or article, you look at and understand the words that are written there.
Have you ~ this book?...
I ~ about it in the paper...
He ~ through the pages slowly and carefully...
It was nice to ~ that the Duke will not be sending his son off to boarding school...
She spends her days ~ing and watching television.
VERB: V n, V about n, V through n, V that, V
•
Read is also a noun.
I settled down to have a good ~.
N-SING: a N
2.
When you ~ a piece of writing to someone, you say the words aloud.
Jay ~s poetry so beautifully...
I like it when she ~s to us...
I sing to the boys or ~ them a story before tucking them in.
VERB: V n, V to n, V n n, also V n to n, V
3.
People who can ~ have the ability to look at and understand written words.
He couldn’t ~ or write...
He could ~ words at 18 months.
VERB: V, V n
4.
If you can ~ music, you have the ability to look at and understand the symbols that are used in written music to represent musical sounds.
Later on I learned how to ~ music.
VERB: V n
5.
When a computer ~s a file or a document, it takes information from a disk or tape. (COMPUTING)
How can I ~ a Microsoft Excel file on a computer that only has Works installed?
VERB: V n
6.
You can use ~ when saying what is written on something or in something. For example, if a notice ~s ‘Entrance’, the word ‘Entrance’ is written on it.
The sign on the bus ~ ‘Private: Not In Service’.
VERB: no cont, V with quote
7.
If you refer to how a piece of writing ~s, you are referring to its style.
The book ~s like a ballad...
VERB: V prep/adv
8.
If you say that a book or magazine is a good ~, you mean that it is very enjoyable to ~.
Ben Okri’s latest novel is a good ~.
N-COUNT: adj N
9.
If something is ~ in a particular way, it is understood or interpreted in that way.
The play is being widely ~ as an allegory of imperialist conquest...
South Africans were praying last night that he has ~ the situation correctly...
= interpret
VERB: be V-ed as n, V n adv/prep
10.
If you ~ someone’s mind or thoughts, you know exactly what they are thinking without them telling you.
As if he could ~ her thoughts, Benny said, ‘You’re free to go any time you like.’
VERB: V n
11.
If you can ~ someone or you can ~ their gestures, you can understand what they are thinking or feeling by the way they behave or the things they say.
If you have to work in a team you must learn to ~ people...
VERB: V n
12.
If someone who is trying to talk to you with a radio transmitter says, ‘Do you ~ me?’, they are asking you if you can hear them.
We ~ you loud and clear. Over.
VERB: V n
13.
When you ~ a measuring device, you look at it to see what the figure or measurement on it is.
It is essential that you are able to ~ a thermometer.
VERB: V n
14.
If a measuring device ~s a particular amount, it shows that amount.
The thermometer ~ 105 degrees Fahrenheit...
VERB: V amount
15.
If you ~ a subject at university, you study it. (BRIT FORMAL; in AM, use major , study )
She ~ French and German at Cambridge University...
He is now ~ing for a maths degree at Surrey University.
VERB: V n, V for n
16.
If you take something as ~, you accept it as true or right and therefore feel that it does not need to be discussed or proved.
We took it as ~ that he must have been a KGB agent...
PHRASE: V inflects
17.
to ~ between the lines: see line
see also ~ing