(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
Wood is the material which forms the trunks and branches of trees.
Their dishes were made of ~...
There was a smell of damp ~ and machine oil.
...a short piece of ~.
N-MASS
2.
A ~ is a fairly large area of trees growing near each other. You can refer to one or several of these areas as ~s, and this is the usual form in American English.
After dinner Alice slipped away for a walk in the ~s with Artie...
About a mile to the west of town he came upon a large ~.
N-COUNT
3.
see also dead ~
4.
If something or someone is not out of the ~s yet, they are still having difficulties or problems. (INFORMAL)
The nation’s economy is not out of the ~s yet.
PHRASE: v-link PHR
5.
You can say ‘touch ~’ in British English, or ‘knock on ~’ in American English, to indicate that you hope to have good luck in something you are doing, usually after saying that you have been lucky with it so far.
She’s never even been to the doctor’s, touch ~...
Touch ~, I’ve been lucky enough to avoid any other serious injuries.
CONVENTION
6.
your neck of the ~s: see neck
can’t see the ~ for the trees: see tree