(~s, ~ping, ~ped)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
If you have been doing something and then you ~ doing it, you no longer do it.
He can’t ~ thinking about it...
I’ve been told to lose weight and ~ smoking...
I ~ped working last year to have a baby...
Does either of the parties want to ~ the fighting?...
She ~ped in mid-sentence.
VERB: V -ing, V -ing, V -ing, V n, V
2.
If you ~ something happening, you prevent it from happening or prevent it from continuing.
He proposed a new diplomatic initiative to try to ~ the war...
If the fire isn’t ~ped, it could spread to 25,000 acres...
I think she really would have liked to ~ us seeing each other...
Motherhood won’t ~ me from pursuing my acting career...
VERB: V n, V n, V n -ing, V n from -ing
3.
If an activity or process ~s, it is no longer happening.
The rain had ~ped and a star or two was visible over the mountains...
The system overheated and filming had to ~...
VERB: V, V
4.
If something such as machine ~s or is ~ped, it is no longer moving or working.
The clock had ~ped at 2.12 a.m...
Arnold ~ped the engine and got out of the car...
VERB: V, V n
5.
When a moving person or vehicle ~s or is ~ped, they no longer move and they remain in the same place.
The car failed to ~ at an army checkpoint...
He ~ped and let her catch up with him...
The event literally ~ped the traffic...
= halt
VERB: V, V, V n
6.
If something that is moving comes to a ~ or is brought to a ~, it slows down and no longer moves.
People often wrongly open doors before the train has come to a ~...
He slowed the car almost to a ~.
= halt
N-SING: to a N
7.
If someone does not ~ to think or to explain, they continue with what they are doing without taking any time to think about or explain it.
She doesn’t ~ to think about what she’s saying...
There is something rather strange about all this if one ~s to consider it...
People who lead busy lives have no time to ~ and reflect.
= pause
VERB: V to-inf, V to-inf, V
8.
If you say that a quality or state ~s somewhere, you mean that it exists or is true up to that point, but no further.
The cafe owner has put up the required ‘no smoking’ signs, but thinks his responsibility ~s there...
= end
VERB: V adv
9.
A ~ is a place where buses or trains regularly ~ so that people can get on and off.
They waited at a bus ~.
N-COUNT: oft supp N
10.
If you ~ somewhere on a journey, you stay there for a short while.
He insisted we ~ at a small restaurant just outside of Atlanta...
VERB: V prep/adv
11.
A ~ is a time or place at which you ~ during a journey.
The last ~ in Mr Cook’s lengthy tour was Paris...
N-COUNT: usu with supp
12.
In music, organ ~s are the knobs at the side of the organ, which you pull or push in order to control the type of sound that comes out of the pipes.
N-COUNT: usu pl
13.
If you say that someone will ~ at nothing to get something, you are emphasizing that they are willing to do things that are extreme, wrong, or dangerous in order to get it.
Their motive is money, and they will ~ at nothing to get it.
PHRASE: V inflects emphasis
14.
If you pull out all the ~s, you do everything you can to make something happen or succeed.
New Zealand police vowed yesterday to pull out all the ~s to find the killer.
PHRASE: V inflects
15.
If you put a ~ to something that you do not like or approve of, you prevent it from happening or continuing.
His daughter should have stood up and put a ~ to all these rumours.
PHRASE: V inflects
16.
If you say that someone does not know when to ~, you mean that they do not control their own behaviour very well and so they often annoy or upset other people.
Like many politicians before him, Mr Bentley did not know when to ~...
PHRASE: know inflects
17.
to ~ dead: see dead
to ~ short of: see short
to ~ someone in their tracks: see track