I. ADJECTIVE AND ADVERB USES
(~er, ~est)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Please look at category 23 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.
1.
If something is ~ or lasts for a ~ time, it does not last very long.
The announcement was made a ~ time ago...
How could you do it in such a ~ period of time?...
Kemp gave a ~ laugh...
We had a ~ meeting.
? long
ADJ
2.
If you talk about a ~ hour, day, or year, you mean that it seems to have passed very quickly or will seem to pass very quickly.
For a few ~ weeks there was peace...
? long
ADJ: usu ADJ n
3.
A ~ speech, letter, or book does not have many words or pages in it.
They were performing a ~ extract from Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona...
? long
ADJ: usu ADJ n
4.
Someone who is ~ is not as tall as most people are.
I’m tall and thin and he’s ~ and fat.
...a ~, elderly woman with grey hair...
? tall
ADJ
5.
Something that is ~ measures only a small amount from one end to the other.
The city centre and shops are only a ~ distance away...
His black hair was very ~.
? long
ADJ
6.
If you are ~ of something or if it is ~, you do not have enough of it. If you are running ~ of something or if it is running ~, you do not have much of it left.
Her father’s illness left the family ~ of money...
Supplies of everything are unreliable, food is ~...
ADJ: v-link ADJ, usu ADJ of n
7.
If someone or something is or stops ~ of a place, they have not quite reached it. If they are or fall ~ of an amount, they have not quite achieved it.
He stopped a hundred yards ~ of the building...
ADJ: v-link ADJ of n
8.
Short of a particular thing means except for that thing or without actually doing that thing.
Short of climbing railings four metres high, there was no way into the garden from this road...
PREP-PHRASE: PREP n/-ing
9.
If something is cut ~ or stops ~, it is stopped before people expect it to or before it has finished.
His glittering career was cut ~ by a heart attack...
ADV: ADV after v
10.
If a name or abbreviation is ~ for another name, it is the ~ version of that name.
Her friend Kes (~ for Kesewa) was in tears...
‘O.O.B.E.’ is ~ for ‘Out Of Body Experience’.
ADJ: v-link ADJ for n
11.
If you have a ~ temper, you get angry very easily.
...an awkward, self-conscious woman with a ~ temper.
ADJ
see also ~-tempered
12.
If you are ~ with someone, you speak briefly and rather rudely to them, because you are impatient or angry.
She seemed nervous or tense, and she was definitely ~ with me.
ADJ: v-link ADJ, usu ADJ with n
13.
If a person or thing is called something for ~, that is the ~ version of their name.
Opposite me was a woman called Jasminder (Jazzy for ~)...
PHRASE: usu n PHR
14.
If you go ~ of something, especially food, you do not have as much of it as you want or need.
Some people may manage their finances badly and therefore have to go ~ of essentials.
PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR of n
15.
You use in ~ when you have been giving a lot of details and you want to give a conclusion or summary.
Try tennis, badminton or windsurfing. In ~, anything challenging...
PHRASE: PHR with cl
16.
You use nothing ~ of or little ~ of to emphasize how great or extreme something is. For example, if you say that something is nothing ~ of a miracle or nothing ~ of disastrous, you are emphasizing that it is a miracle or it is disastrous.
The results are nothing ~ of magnificent...
PHRASE: v-link PHR adj/n emphasis
17.
If you say that someone is, for example, several cards ~ of a full deck or one sandwich ~ of a picnic, you think they are stupid, foolish, or crazy. (INFORMAL)
PHRASE: v-link PHR
18.
If someone or something is ~ on a particular good quality, they do not have as much of it as you think they should have.
The proposals were ~ on detail.
PHRASE: V inflects disapproval
19.
If someone stops ~ of doing something, they come close to doing it but do not actually do it.
He stopped ~ of explicitly criticizing the government...
PHRASE: V inflects, PHR -ing/n
20.
If workers are put on ~ time, they are asked to work fewer hours than the normal working week, because their employer can not afford to pay them a full time wage.
Workers across the country have been put on ~ time because of the slump in demand...
Most manufacturers have had to introduce ~-time working.
PHRASE: on PHR, PHR n
21.
If something pulls you up ~ or brings you up ~, it makes you suddenly stop what you are doing.
The name on the gate pulled me up ~.
PHRASE: V inflects
22.
If you make ~ work of someone or something, you deal with them or defeat them very quickly. (INFORMAL)
Agassi made ~ work of his opponent.
PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n
23.
~ of breath: see breath
at ~ notice: see notice
to sell someone ~: see sell
to get ~ shrift: see shrift
to cut a long story ~: see story
to draw the ~ straw: see straw
in ~ supply: see supply
in the ~ term: see term
II. NOUN USES
(~s)
1.
Shorts are trousers with very ~ legs, that people wear in hot weather or for taking part in sports.
...two women in bright cotton ~s and tee shirts.
N-PLURAL: also a pair of N
2.
Shorts are men’s underpants with ~ legs. (mainly AM)
N-PLURAL: also a pair of N
3.
A ~ is a small amount of a strong alcoholic drink such as whisky, gin, or vodka, rather than a weaker alcoholic drink that you can drink in larger quantities. (mainly BRIT)
N-COUNT
4.
A ~ is a ~ film, especially one that is shown before the main film at the cinema.
N-COUNT