cstr/en-wiktionary-extracted-all huggingface dataset:
swimming
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈswɪmɪŋ/
rhymes: -ɪmɪŋ
Forms: form: swimmings
Etymology: From swim (“to be dizzy”, verb) + -ing (suffix forming gerunds).
Senses: examples: text: Then I take my pipe of Tabacco, sitting close by a warme fire, the space of halfe an houre and more, vntill the giddinesse and swimming in my head be past, and the medicine also haue done it feate : then I vse to gargle my mouth with a cuppe of beere, well warmed with a toste.
ref: 1602, A New and Short Defense of Tabacco: with the effectes of the same: and of the right vse thereof, London: Clement Knight, “Rule”, unnumbered page:
text: But when the worms are killed with the aforesaid medicines, you must driue them out without delay : for there proceedeth a vicious exhalation from them, which both destroyeth appetite, and hurteth digestion, and being lifted vpward, it causeth swimmings, and other euils.
ref: 1624, Philip Barrough, The Method of Physick, Contaning the Cavses, Signes, and Cvres of Inward Diseases in Mans Body, From the Head to the Foote: […], 6th edition, London: Richard Field, page 134:
text: [The Speedwell] doth also wonderfully helpe the memory, and to ease all turnings and swimmings, and other paines of the head, and as it is sayd helpeth women to become fruitfull, that were barren[.]
ref: 1640, John Parkinson, Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants. Or, an Herball of Large Extent: […], London, page 552:
text: Swimmings of the head and intestinal pains seemed the prelude of dissolution.
ref: 1869, William Chambers, Robert Chambers, Chambers's Miscellany of Instructive & Entertaining Tracts, page 2:
glosses: The state of being dizzy or in vertigo.
swimming
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈswɪmɪŋ/
rhymes: -ɪmɪŋ
Etymology: See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Senses: glosses: present participle and gerund of swim
massif
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /mæˈsiːf/
ipa: /ˈmæsɪf/
rhymes: -iːf
Forms: form: massifs
Etymology: Borrowed from French massif, from Middle French massif, ultimately from Latin massa, from Ancient Greek μᾶζα (mâza, “barley-cake, lump (of dough)”).
Senses: examples: text: This is itself a cheerless spot, particularly on a rainy day, when, overshadowed by the great massif of rock that towers in the background, and surrounded by the grey and cheerless quarries, it has a depressing character much in contrast with the green verdure encountered on the northern end of this interesting branch line.
ref: 1954 August, H. M. Madgwick, “The Blaenau Festiniog Tunnel”, in Railway Magazine, page 569:
glosses: A principal mountain mass.
examples: text: The southern borders of these states are keyed to the same horizontal projection, one surveyed by the frontier planter William Byrd in 1728, while the rivers forming their northern extents fall back just opposite each other from the flanks of the Appalachian massif.
ref: 2011, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Pulphead:
text: Some deposits of iron ore are scattered along the edges of the massif in south - central France.
ref: 1921, Max Roesler, The Iron-ore Resources of Europe, page 68:
text: The southern portion of the zone from the Maritime Alps to the Pelvoux massif is complicated by the movements which have accompanied the formation of the mountains of Provence.
ref: 1891, Carl Diener, “Reviews and Notices”, in The Alpine Journal, volume 15, page 564:
glosses: A block of the earth's crust bounded by faults or flexures and displaced as a unit without internal change; normally consists of gneisses and schists.
Derived terms: Armorican Massif
actionable
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈæk.ʃə.nə.bəl/
ipa: /ˈæk.ʃən.ə.bəl/
Forms: form: more actionable
form: most actionable
Etymology: From action + -able. Compare Late Latin actionabilis. See action.
Senses: examples: text: By 1996 most of Unscom’s leads had dried up and my need for actionable information was such that the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) agreed to deal with me directly.
ref: 2015, Scott Ritter, London Review of Books, volume 37, number 13:
glosses: Able to be acted on; able to be used as the basis for taking action.
examples: text: I'm sure it's not good of me to write that he's a lush, but is it actionable?
text: Clearly the libelous book is actionable, but I'm not commenting on anything to do with legal issues.
text: "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal constraint."
ref: 1891 [September], A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Adventure III.—A Case of Identity.”, in Geo[rge] Newnes, editor, The Strand Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, volume II (July to December), number [9], London: […], page 258, column 1:
topics: law
glosses: Affording grounds for legal action.
Derived terms: actionability
actionably
inactionable
nonactionable
unactionable
actionable
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈæk.ʃə.nə.bəl/
ipa: /ˈæk.ʃən.ə.bəl/
Forms: form: actionables
Etymology: From action + -able. Compare Late Latin actionabilis. See action.
Senses: examples: text: A comprehensive set of key actionables for achieving healthier environments is provided accordingly.
ref: 2020, “Actionables for a healthy recovery from COVID-19”, in World Health Organization Newsroom:
glosses: That can be acted on; that can be used as the basis for taking action.
active
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈæk.tɪv/
rhymes: -æktɪv
Forms: form: actives
Etymology: From Middle English actyf, from Old French actif, from Latin āctīv(us), from agere (“to do, to act”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti. By surface analysis, act + -ive.
Senses: examples: text: "Alumni could become more active in giving guidance and leadership to students. They act as sort of a 'maturity governor' on fraternities," notes Ratliff, citing surveys suggesting that fraternity actives presume mistakenly that alumni want hazing […]
ref: 1989, The Alcalde, volume 78, number 2, page 11:
glosses: A person or thing that is acting or capable of acting.
examples: text: Components are split into two broad segments: actives and passives. Active components like the vacuum tube and the transistor contain the power to generate and alter electrical signals.
ref: 2013, David Manners, Hitchhikers' Guide to Electronics in the '90s, page 36:
topics: business
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
electronics
energy
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: Any component that is not passive. See Passivity (engineering).
actively
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈæktɪvli/
Forms: form: more actively
form: most actively
Etymology: From late Middle English actyvely; equivalent to active + -ly.
Senses: examples: text: He was actively listening.
text: She was actively working, not “sleeping on the job”.
text: Defying this, Western queer culture actively defuses from cisnormative values, yet in so doing may also fuse with their new, queernormative value constructs.
ref: 2020, Alex Stitt, ACT for Gender Identity: The Comprehensive Guide, page 202:
text: It makes me feel better that I’m not the only one who fantasizes about being struck down by a meteor on my way to work. Mind you, I’m not actively suicidal at all. I just kinda think being dead without actually killing myself would be easier and way less exhausting.”
ref: 2023 December 2, Tim Graham, “American Psychological Association Announces “Feeling Like Dying But Not Really Suicidal” New Baseline For Normal Mental Health”, in The Hard Times, archived from the original on 02 Aug 2025:
glosses: In an active manner.
examples: text: a word used actively
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
antonyms: passively
glosses: In the active form; not passive.
Derived terms: bioactively
nonactively
retroactively
actual
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈækʃuəl/
ipa: /ˈækʃəl/
ipa: /ˈæktʃuəl/
ipa: /ˈæktʃəl/
note: without the yod-coalescence
ipa: /ˈæktjʊəl/
note: without the yod-coalescence
ipa: /ˈæktjəl/
ipa: /ˈæt͡ʃəl/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈaktʃʊwəl/
rhymes: -æktʃuəl
rhymes: -æktʃəl
rhymes: -ækʃuəl
rhymes: -ækʃəl
Forms: form: actuals
Etymology: From Middle English actual, actuel (“active”), from Anglo-Norman actuel, actual, and its source Late Latin actuālis (“active, practical”), from Latin actus (“act, action, performance”), from agere (“to do; to act”) + -alis (“-al”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti, from the root *h₂eǵ-.
Senses: topics: business
finance
glosses: an actual, real one; notably:
something actually received; real receipts, as distinct from estimated ones.
examples: text: Bravo Six Actual, this is Charlie One. Come in, over.
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: an actual, real one; notably:
a radio callsign modifier that specifies the commanding officer of the unit or asset denoted by the remainder of the callsign and not the officer's assistant or other designee.
examples: text: There was that desolate air about the chamber which is peculiar to an ill-furnished London room: cities need luxuries, were it only to conceal the actual.
ref: 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A London Life”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 161:
glosses: Reality, usually with the definite article.
Related terms: certain
genuine
actually
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈæk.t͡ʃʊ.ə.li/
ipa: /ˈæk.t͡ʃə.li/
ipa: /ˈæk.ʃʊ.ə.li/
ipa: /ˈæk.ʃə.li/
ipa: /ˈæt͡ʃ.u.li/
ipa: /ˈæt͡ʃ.ə.li/
ipa: /ˈat͡ʃ.li/
ipa: /ˈæk.t͡ʃ(u.)(ə.)li/
ipa: /ˈæk.ʃ(u.)(ə.)li/
rhymes: -ækt͡ʃʊəli
Forms: form: actially
form: ackshually
form: ackshully
form: akshually
form: akshully
form: ackshly
form: akshly
Etymology: From Middle English actualy, actuelly, equivalent to actual + -ly.
Senses: examples: text: His promises did not correspond with what he actually did.
glosses: In act or in fact; really; in truth; positively.
examples: text: Neither actually […] nor passively.
ref: 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):
glosses: Actively.
examples: text: At the time whereof we are writing, though the Great George was on the throne and ladies wore gigots and large combs like tortoise-shell shovels in their hair, instead of the simple sleeves and lovely wreaths which are actually in fashion, the manners of the very polite world were not, I take it, essentially different from those of the present day: and their amusements pretty similar.
ref: 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
glosses: Currently; at the time.
Synonyms: sense: in act or in fact
word: as a matter of fact
word: in reality
word: literally
word: really
word: truthfully
word: actually
word: all things considered
word: by right
word: come to think of it
word: fact is
word: forsooth
word: frankly
word: honestly
word: in actuality
word: in fact
word: in faith
word: in point of fact
word: in truth
word: indeed
word: properly
word: right
word: simply
word: soothfast
word: soothly
word: to tell the truth
word: truly
word: verily
word: wis
Derived terms: exactually
well actually
Related terms: word: if I'm honest
word: tell the truth
word: tell you the truth
word: TBH
word: to be frank
word: to be honest
word: if truth be told
word: truth be told
word: truth to tell
word: genuine
actually
Language: English
Part of speech: intj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈæk.t͡ʃʊ.ə.li/
ipa: /ˈæk.t͡ʃə.li/
ipa: /ˈæk.ʃʊ.ə.li/
ipa: /ˈæk.ʃə.li/
ipa: /ˈæt͡ʃ.u.li/
ipa: /ˈæt͡ʃ.ə.li/
ipa: /ˈat͡ʃ.li/
ipa: /ˈæk.t͡ʃ(u.)(ə.)li/
ipa: /ˈæk.ʃ(u.)(ə.)li/
rhymes: -ækt͡ʃʊəli
Etymology: A calque of Tagalog talaga.
Senses: examples: A: That was a pretty good movie.
B: Actually!
synonyms: really
glosses: Indicating affirmation, agreement.
suis
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: glosses: plural of sui
acushla
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: /əˈkʊʃlə/
Forms: form: acushlas
Etymology: From Irish a chuisle (“O pulse (of my heart)”).
Senses: examples: text: Parker, acushla, you’re an honour to Scotland Yard.
ref: 1928, Dorothy L. Sayers, chapter 2, in Whose Body?:
text: To her surprise, the grass was slick with dew, its texture unusually luxuriant beneath her hands as she spread her skirts to cover her ankles. It was springy and supple, the rich deep green of springtime. “Why do you frown, acushla?”
ref: 2012, Laura Parker, A Rose in Splendor, →ISBN:
glosses: darling
Related terms: macushla
acutely
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈkjuːtli/
Forms: form: more acutely
form: most acutely
Etymology: From acute + -ly.
Senses: examples: text: I minored in physics at university, so am acutely aware of atomic structure.
text: Holloway has unfinished business in the Premier League after relegation last year and he will make a swift return if he can overcome West Ham a week on Saturday. Sam Allardyce, the West Ham manager, will be acutely aware that when the stakes are high, Blackpool are simply formidable.
ref: 2012 May 9, John Percy, “Birmingham City 2 Blackpool 2 (2-3 on agg): match report”, in the Telegraph:
glosses: In an acute manner
Derived terms: hyperacutely
acuteness
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: acutenesses
Etymology: From acute + -ness.
Senses: examples: text: the acuteness of an angle
glosses: The quality of being acute or pointed
examples: text: By acuteness of feeling, we perceive small objects or slight impressions.
text: By acuteness of intellect, we discern nice distinctions.
glosses: The faculty of precise discernment or perception; sensitiveness
raw_tags: of the senses or feelings
glosses: Shrillness; high pitch; – said of sounds.
examples: text: At the time, I set it down to some idiosyncratic, personal distaste, and merely wondered at the acuteness of the symptoms; but I have since had reason to believe the cause to lie much deeper in the nature of man, and to turn on some nobler hinge than the principle of hatred.
ref: 1886, Robert Louis Stevensony, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde:
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: Violence of a disease, which brings it speedily to a crisis.
glosses: Shrewdness, quickness of mind
Synonyms: acuity
sharpness
acumen
keenness
Related terms: acutance
adder
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈædɚ/
rhymes: -ædə(ɹ)
Forms: form: adders
Etymology: From add + -er.
Senses: glosses: Someone who or something which performs arithmetic addition; a machine for adding numbers.
glosses: An electronic device that adds voltages, currents or frequencies.
examples: text: They sought out cost adders with an eye toward eliminating them.
glosses: Something which adds or increases.
Derived terms: adder-subtractor
carry-lookahead adder
carry-save adder
carry-skip adder
full adder
half adder
adapt
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈdæpt/
rhymes: -æpt
Forms: form: adapts
form: adapting
form: adapted
form: adapted
Etymology: From Middle English *adapten (attested in Middle English adapted (past participle)), from Latin adaptāre (“to fit to”), from ad- (“to”) + aptāre (“to make fit”), from aptus (“fit”); see apt.
Senses: synonyms: proportion
glosses: To make suitable; to make to correspond; to fit or suit.
examples: text: to adapt a story for the stage
text: to adapt an old machine to a new manufacture
glosses: To fit by alteration; to modify or remodel for a different purpose; to adjust.
examples: text: to bring out a play adapted from the French
text: a word of an adapted form
glosses: To make by altering or fitting something else; to produce by change of form or character.
examples: text: They could not adapt to the new climate and so perished.
glosses: To make oneself comfortable to a new thing.
Derived terms: adaptable
adaptate
adaptation
adaptative
adapter
adaption
adaptitude
adaptly
adaptness
adaptogen
adaptor
coadapt
counteradapt
deadapt
maladapt
misadapt
nonadapting
osmoadapt
overadapt
preadapt
readapt
unadapt
Related terms: sense: terms related to adapt (verb)
word: adaptability
sense: terms related to adapt (verb)
word: adaptableness
sense: terms related to adapt (verb)
word: adaptably
sense: terms related to adapt (verb)
word: adaptational
sense: terms related to adapt (verb)
word: adaptatively
sense: terms related to adapt (verb)
word: adaptativeness
sense: terms related to adapt (verb)
word: adaptedness
sense: terms related to adapt (verb)
word: adaptional
sense: terms related to adapt (verb)
word: adaptive
sense: terms related to adapt (verb)
word: adaptively
sense: terms related to adapt (verb)
word: adaptiveness
sense: terms related to adapt (verb)
word: adaptorial
adapt
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈdæpt/
rhymes: -æpt
Forms: form: more adapt
form: most adapt
Etymology: From Middle English *adapten (attested in Middle English adapted (past participle)), from Latin adaptāre (“to fit to”), from ad- (“to”) + aptāre (“to make fit”), from aptus (“fit”); see apt.
Senses: examples: text: This prediction, though somewhat obscure, is wonderfully adapt.
ref: c. 1709, Merlin's Prophecy, Jonathan Swift:
glosses: Adapted; fit; suited; suitable; apt.
adaptable
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈdæptəbəl/
Forms: form: more adaptable
form: most adaptable
Etymology: From adapt + -able.
Senses: examples: text: Joan was adaptable, and easily fell in with the prevalent tone. She played her small jokes on each, and this readily dissolved restraint, and put all on terms of easy friendship.
ref: 1901, Sabine Baring-Gould, The Frobishers:
antonyms: unadaptable
inadaptable
glosses: Capable of adapting or of being adapted.
Synonyms: adaptive
Derived terms: adaptability
adaptableness
adaptably
haloadaptable
inadaptable
maladaptable
nonadaptable
superadaptable
unadaptable
Related terms: adapt
additional
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈdɪʃənəl/
Forms: form: add'l
Etymology: From addition + -al.
Senses: examples: text: additional charge
text: additional information
text: additional resources
text: You may be charged an additional fee for late payment.
text: The hotel provided additional towels on request.
text: Why this already very fast train should be speeded up still further, when none of the other more easily timed S.R. West of England trains has a single minute pared from its schedule, is unexplained - unless this is a playful dig at the Western Region, most of whose expresses, by reason of additional stops, will be decelerated from the same date.
ref: 1961 October, “The winter timetables of British Railways: Southern Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 593:
text: Nevertheless, it is clear that the global energy demand for air-conditioning will grow substantially as nations become more affluent,[…]. This trend will put additional strain not only on global energy resources but also on the environmental prospects of a warming planet.
ref: 2013 September-October, Michael Sivak, “Will AC Put a Chill on the Global Energy Supply?”, in American Scientist:
glosses: Supplemental or added to something.
Synonyms: word: epi-
word: accessional
word: accessive
word: additional
word: additionary
word: adjunctive
word: ascititious
word: auxiliary
word: complemental
word: extra
word: further
word: subsidiary
word: supplemental
word: supplementary
word: suppletory
Hypernyms: word: extrinsic
Hyponyms: word: accessory
word: accompanying
word: contributory
word: subservient
word: acceding
Derived terms: additional accompaniment
additionality
additionally
additional time
nonadditional
superadditional
additional
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈdɪʃənəl/
Forms: form: additionals
form: add'l
Etymology: From addition + -al.
Senses: examples: text: 1614, Francis Bacon, “A Letter to the King touching Peacham’s Cause. January 27. 1614” in Resuscitatio, or, Bringing into publick light severall pieces of the works […] of Francis Bacon, London: William Lee, 1657, p. 49,
For having received, from my Lord, an Additional, of great Importance; which was, that Owen, of his own Accord, after Examination, should compare the Case of your Majesty, (if you were Excommunicate,) to the Case, of a Prisoner, Condemned at the Barr; which Additional was subscribed by one Witness; but yet I perceived it was spoken aloud, and in the Hearing of others; I presently sent down a Copy thereof […]
text: […] having been well vers’d in British Histories, and a singular lover of Antiquities, [he] made many additionals to the Historie of Cambria published by Dav. Powell […]
ref: 1692, Anthony à Wood, Athenæ Oxonienses, London: Thomas Bennet, page 248:
glosses: Something added.
addicted
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈdɪktɪd/
Forms: form: more addicted
form: most addicted
Senses: glosses: Having a biochemical addiction.
examples: text: […] he was from his childhood addicted to study, and ever since he came to the use of reason so great a husband of his time, as not to let slip unoccupied the least fragment of it.
ref: 1834, William Swainson, A Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural History, page 26:
glosses: Devoted to or obsessed with something.
Derived terms: addictedness
nonaddicted
overaddicted
pseudoaddicted
readdicted
unaddicted
addicted
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈdɪktɪd/
Senses: glosses: simple past and past participle of addict
addiction
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈdɪkˌʃən/
rhymes: -ɪkʃən
Forms: form: addictions
Etymology: From addict + -ion; compare (Latin) addictio (“an adjudging, an award”).
Senses: examples: text: Do your lethal addictions to self-prescriptions numb the ache of the darkest days?
ref: 2019, Thy Art is Murder, Chemical Christ:
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: A state that is characterized by compulsive drug use or compulsive engagement in rewarding behavior, despite negative consequences.
glosses: The state of being addicted; devotion; inclination.
glosses: A habit or practice that damages, jeopardizes or shortens one's life but when ceased causes trauma.
examples: text: His addiction was to courses vain.
ref: 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
glosses: A pathological relationship to mood altering experience that has life damaging consequences.
Derived terms: addiction-like
addictionlike
addictionology
alcohol addiction
antiaddiction
cyberaddiction
deaddiction
drug addiction
Internet addiction disorder
internet addiction disorder
multiaddiction
multi-addiction
overaddiction
polyaddiction
pseudoaddiction
readdiction
adequate
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: note: Indic
ipa: /əɖɪˈkweʈ/
ipa: /ˈæd.ə.kwɪt/
ipa: /ˈæ.də.kɪt/
ipa: /ˈæd.ɪ.kwət/
Forms: form: more adequate
form: most adequate
form: adæquate
Etymology: Learned borrowing from Latin adaequātus, perfect passive participle of adaequō (“to make equal to”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (verb-forming suffix)), further from ad (“to, towards, at”) + aequō (“to make equal, equalize”), from aequus (“equal”). Cognate with French adéquat.
Senses: examples: text: powers adequate to a great work
text: an adequate definition
text: Proportion therefore your Clothes to your bodies, and let them be proper for your persons. […] Agreeableness […] ought to be exact, and adequate both to age, person and condition, avoiding extremities on both sides, being neither too much out, nor in the fashions.
ref: 1673, Hannah Woolley, “Of Habit, and the neatness and property thereof”, in The Gentlewomans Companion, London: Dorman Newman, page 61:
text: Her legal allowance was not adequate to her fortune, nor sufficient for her comfortable maintenance […]
ref: 1811, [Jane Austen], chapter 31, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
text: 1853, Thomas De Quincey, Autobiographic Sketches in Narrative and Miscellaneous Papers, Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, “Dublin,” p. 254,
[…] in those days, Ireland had no adequate champion; the Hoods and the Grattans were not up to the mark.
text: All day as I drove upon my round I turned over the case in my mind, and found no explanation which appeared to me to be adequate.
ref: 1903, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Empty House”, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes:
text: John was a perfectly adequate academic. A perfectly adequate academic but not a notable teacher.
ref: 2009, J. M. Coetzee, Summertime, New York: Viking, page 212:
synonyms: acceptable
correspondent
proportionate
satisfactory
sufficient
antonyms: inadequate
glosses: Equal to or fulfilling some requirement.
Synonyms: sense: passable
word: satisfactory
Derived terms: adequate intake
adequately
adequateness
inadequate
unadequate
Related terms: adequacy
adequation
adequative
adequate
Language: English
Part of speech: det
Pronunciation: note: Indic
ipa: /əɖɪˈkweʈ/
Forms: form: adæquate
Etymology: Learned borrowing from Latin adaequātus, perfect passive participle of adaequō (“to make equal to”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (verb-forming suffix)), further from ad (“to, towards, at”) + aequō (“to make equal, equalize”), from aequus (“equal”). Cognate with French adéquat.
Senses: examples: text: We have adequate money for the journey.
glosses: A sufficient amount of; enough.
adequate
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: note: Indic
ipa: /əɖɪˈkweʈ/
ipa: /ˈæd.ɪˌkweɪt/
Forms: form: adequates
form: adequating
form: adequated
form: adequated
form: adæquate
Etymology: Learned borrowing from Latin adaequātus, perfect passive participle of adaequō (“to make equal to”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (verb-forming suffix)), further from ad (“to, towards, at”) + aequō (“to make equal, equalize”), from aequus (“equal”). Cognate with French adéquat.
Senses: examples: text: Let me giue yet one instance more, of a truly intellectuall obiect, exactly adequated and proportioned vnto the intellectuall appetite.
ref: 1622, Martin Fotherby, Atheomastix; clearing foure truthes, against atheists and infidels, London, Book 2, Chapter 2, p. 208:
glosses: To equalize; to make adequate.
examples: text: […] though it be an impossibilitie for any creature to adequate God in his eternitie, yet he hath ordained all his sonnes in Christ to partake of it by living with him eternally.
ref: 1635, Robert Shelford, “Theologia Amantis Deum, or A Treatise of the Divine Attributes”, in Five Pious and Learned Discourses, Cambridge, page 227:
glosses: To equal.
adhered
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Senses: glosses: simple past and past participle of adhere
adhering
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Etymology: From Middle English *adherynge, adherande, present participle of Middle English *adheren, from Old French *adherer, aderer and Medieval Latin adhaereō (“adhere”, verb), equivalent to adhere + -ing.
Senses: glosses: present participle and gerund of adhere
adhesive
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ədˈhiː.sɪv/
ipa: /ədˈhi.sɪv/
ipa: /ædˈhi.sɪv/
ipa: /ədˈhiː.sɪv/
ipa: /ədˈhiː.səv/
Forms: form: more adhesive
form: most adhesive
form: adhæsive
Etymology: From French adhésif, from Medieval Latin adhaesivus, from adhaereō (supine adhaesum); see adhere.
Senses: examples: text: adhesive material
text: adhesive tape
glosses: Sticky; tenacious, as glutinous substances.
glosses: Apt or tending to adhere; clinging.
Synonyms: sense: sticky
word: claggy
word: tenacious
word: adherent
word: adhesive
word: agglutinative
word: clidgy
word: clingsome
word: clingy
word: puggy
word: stickable
word: sticky
Hyponyms: word: gluable
word: glueable
word: hyperadhesive
word: tacky
word: gaumy
word: gormy
word: smeary
word: emplastic
word: clarty
word: cloggy
word: viscous
word: glairy
word: gluey
word: glutinous
word: gummy
word: pasty
Derived terms: adhesive capsulitis
adhesively
adhesivemeter
adhesiveness
adhesive tape
adhesivity
antiadhesive
bioadhesive
coadhesive
counteradhesive
cytoadhesive
denture adhesive
hot melt adhesive
hyperadhesive
mucoadhesive
multiadhesive
nonadhesive
proadhesive
readhesive
self-adhesive
thermoadhesive
unadhesive
Related terms: adhere
adherence
adherent
coherent
inherent
adhesive
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ədˈhiː.sɪv/
ipa: /ədˈhi.sɪv/
ipa: /ædˈhi.sɪv/
ipa: /ədˈhiː.sɪv/
ipa: /ədˈhiː.səv/
Forms: form: adhesives
form: adhæsive
Etymology: From French adhésif, from Medieval Latin adhaesivus, from adhaereō (supine adhaesum); see adhere.
Senses: examples: text: The label wouldn’t stick without strong adhesive.
text: They used an adhesive to repair the broken vase.
text: The company developed a new kind of waterproof adhesive.
glosses: a substance, such as glue, that provides or promotes adhesion
adieu
Language: English
Part of speech: intj
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈdju/
ipa: /əˈdu/
ipa: /əˈdjuː/
ipa: /əˈdjɜː/
ipa: /əˈdjuː/
ipa: /əˈdjɜː/
ipa: /əˈd(j)ɪu̯/
ipa: /əˈd(j)ʌu̯/
ipa: [əˈd(j)ɛʊ̯]
rhymes: -uː
Etymology: From Middle English adieu also adew, adewe, adue, from Old French adieu (“to God”), a shortening of a Dieu vous comant (“I commend you to God”), from Medieval Latin ad Deum (“to God”). Doublet of adios.
Senses: examples: text: BEATRICE. What fire is in mine ears? Can this be true?
Stand I condemn'd for pride and scorn so much?
Contempt, farewell! and maiden pride, adieu!
No glory lives behind the back of such.
ref: 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
glosses: Said to wish a final farewell; goodbye.
Synonyms: sense: "adieu"
word: addio
sense: "adieu"
word: adios
sense: "adieu"
word: con dios
sense: "adieu"
word: con Dios
sense: "adieu"
word: God be with you
sense: "adieu"
word: good-by
sense: "adieu"
word: good-bye
sense: "adieu"
word: goodbye
sense: "adieu"
word: go with God
sense: "adieu"
word: vaya con dios
sense: "adieu"
word: vaya con Dios
word: adjö
word: aloha
word: arrivederci
word: auf Wiedersehen
word: au revoir
word: bye
word: bye-bye
word: cheerio
word: cheers
word: ciao
word: farewell
word: good day
word: sayonara
word: shalom
word: so long
adieu
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈdju/
ipa: /əˈdu/
ipa: /əˈdjuː/
ipa: /əˈdjɜː/
ipa: /əˈdjuː/
ipa: /əˈdjɜː/
ipa: /əˈd(j)ɪu̯/
ipa: /əˈd(j)ʌu̯/
ipa: [əˈd(j)ɛʊ̯]
rhymes: -uː
Forms: form: adieux
form: adieus
Etymology: From Middle English adieu also adew, adewe, adue, from Old French adieu (“to God”), a shortening of a Dieu vous comant (“I commend you to God”), from Medieval Latin ad Deum (“to God”). Doublet of adios.
Senses: examples: text: We bid our final adieus to our family, then boarded the ship, bound for America.
text: As Noyes bade me adieu and rode off northward in his car I began to walk slowly toward the house.
ref: 1931, H. P. Lovecraft, chapter 6, in The Whisperer in Darkness:
text: Yes, the tide will surely turn, and meanwhile may one who is proud to call himself a partisan, invite whomever may feel disposed to bid the "T14s" adieux, to pause before giving them valediction and accord to them the respect that is assuredly their due.
ref: 1952 January, Henry Maxwell, “Farewell to the "T14s"”, in Railway Magazine, page 57:
text: At the of his so remote, so near, 1884 summer Van, before leaving Ardis, was to make a visit of adieu to Ada's larvarium.
ref: 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle:
glosses: A farewell, a goodbye; especially a fond farewell, or a lasting or permanent farewell.
Derived terms: bid adieu
Related terms: à deux
ado
adjacent
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈd͡ʒeɪ.sənt/
note: Indic
ipa: /ə(ɖ)ˈdʒesəɳʈ/
note: spelling pronunciation
ipa: /ˈa(ɖ)dʒəsəɳʈ/
note: Indic
ipa: /ə(ɖ)dʒəˈsɛnʈ/
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin adiacēns, adiacentis, derivative of adiaceō (“I lie beside”); from ad (“to”) + iaceō (“I lie down”).
Senses: examples: text: Because the conference room is filled, we will have our meeting in the adjacent room.
synonyms: abutting
adjoining
contiguous
juxtaposed
near
antonyms: apart
distant
nonadjacent
glosses: Lying next to, close, or contiguous; neighboring; bordering on.
examples: text: The picture is on the adjacent page.
glosses: Just before, after, or facing.
examples: text: It would be false to suggest CBD is nothing more than an obsession for reiki-adjacent bicoastal millennials.
ref: 2018 October 27, Alex Williams, “Why Is CBD Everywhere?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 13 Mar 2022:
text: First of all, she's probably the most popular politics-adjacent figure in the country. She's not a politician. She's never run for anything, but I have said for a long time – I think we all agree – if she did ever want to run for something, she would be right at the front of the line.
ref: 2018 December 25, “Faith Leaders Speak about Leading Through Natural Disasters; Who's Been Naughty and Nice in 2018 Politics?”, in New Day, Chris Cillizza (actor), via CNN, archived from the original on 29 Nov 2022, retrieved 27 Jul 2019:
glosses: Related to; suggestive of; bordering on.
Derived terms: adjacency
adjacent angle
adjacently
adjacentness
circumadjacent
coadjacent
comic-adjacent
nonadjacent
subadjacent
unadjacent
adjacent
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈd͡ʒeɪ.sənt/
note: Indic
ipa: /ə(ɖ)ˈdʒesəɳʈ/
note: spelling pronunciation
ipa: /ˈa(ɖ)dʒəsəɳʈ/
note: Indic
ipa: /ə(ɖ)dʒəˈsɛnʈ/
Forms: form: adjacents
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin adiacēns, adiacentis, derivative of adiaceō (“I lie beside”); from ad (“to”) + iaceō (“I lie down”).
Senses: examples: text: Again, the key colors have twice the area of the adjacents.
ref: 1980, Faber Birren, The textile colorist:
text: Picking out the opposite, the adjacent, and the hypotenuse[…]
ref: 2011, Mark Zegarelli, ACT Math For Dummies, page 194:
glosses: Something that lies next to something else, especially the side of a right triangle that is neither the hypotenuse nor the opposite.
adjacent
Language: English
Part of speech: prep
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈd͡ʒeɪ.sənt/
note: Indic
ipa: /ə(ɖ)ˈdʒesəɳʈ/
note: spelling pronunciation
ipa: /ˈa(ɖ)dʒəsəɳʈ/
note: Indic
ipa: /ə(ɖ)dʒəˈsɛnʈ/
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin adiacēns, adiacentis, derivative of adiaceō (“I lie beside”); from ad (“to”) + iaceō (“I lie down”).
Senses: examples: text: The house adjacent to the school was demolished.
text: A notice was sent to the house adjacent the school.
glosses: Next to; beside.
examples: text: While Amazon has increasingly become a one-stop shop for some people, we’re also seeing a large proliferation of online companies looking to connect with users wherever they happen to be spending the most time, whether that’s on a social media platform, or on a site that caters to interests adjacent to the businesses’s own — and most importantly not necessarily on the company’s own web properties.
ref: 2008 March 27, Ingrid Lunden, “Braintree launches Extend to integrate loyalty, fraud prevention and other services into payments”, in TechCrunch, retrieved 26 Jul 2019:
glosses: Related to; suggestive of; bordering on.
adjoining
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈd͡ʒɔɪ.nɪŋ/
ipa: /əˈd͡ʒoɪ.nɪŋ/
Forms: form: more adjoining
form: most adjoining
Etymology: From Middle English ajoinen, from Old French ajoindre, (compare French adjoindre), from Latin adiungō (“join to”), formed from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + iungō (“join”).
Senses: examples: text: an adjoining room
text: The location was described to be "on the lower side of the river, adjoining land owned by Whitmore Knaggs and on the upper side by lands not yet granted."
ref: 1902, Robert B. Ross, editor, History of the Knaggs family of Ohio and Michigan, retrieved 22 Jul 2013, page 46:
text: He had contemplated Pym in all the stages he had grown up with him, drunk with him and worked with him, including a night in Berlin he had totally forgotten until now when they had ended up screwing a couple of army nurses in adjoining rooms.
ref: 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:
synonyms: contiguous
bordering
glosses: Being in contact at some point or line; joining to
Synonyms: adjacent
bordering
adjoining
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈd͡ʒɔɪ.nɪŋ/
ipa: /əˈd͡ʒoɪ.nɪŋ/
Etymology: From Middle English ajoinen, from Old French ajoindre, (compare French adjoindre), from Latin adiungō (“join to”), formed from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + iungō (“join”).
Senses: glosses: present participle and gerund of adjoin
argued
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɑɹ.ɡjud/
Senses: glosses: simple past and past participle of argue
arguing
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɑː(ɹ).ɡju.ɪŋ/
Senses: glosses: present participle and gerund of argue
arguing
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɑː(ɹ).ɡju.ɪŋ/
Forms: form: arguings
Senses: examples: text: The then Coburg Line died out in 1678, upon which arose great arguings as to who should inherit[…]
ref: 1855, Thomas Carlyle, The Prinzenraub: A Glimpse of Saxon History:
glosses: argument
assumed
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: note: without the yod-coalescence
ipa: /əˈsjuːmd/
note: yod-coalescence
ipa: /əˈʃuːmd/
ipa: /əˈsjuːmd/
note: Canada, US, yod-dropping
ipa: /əˈsuːmd/
ipa: /əˈzuːmd/
rhymes: -uːmd
Senses: glosses: simple past and past participle of assume
assumed
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: note: without the yod-coalescence
ipa: /əˈsjuːmd/
note: yod-coalescence
ipa: /əˈʃuːmd/
ipa: /əˈsjuːmd/
note: Canada, US, yod-dropping
ipa: /əˈsuːmd/
ipa: /əˈzuːmd/
rhymes: -uːmd
Forms: form: more assumed
form: most assumed
Senses: examples: text: Appleby[…]rose from his seat when Morales came in. He shook hands urbanely, unbuckled his sword, and laid his kepi on the table, and then sat down with an expression of concern in his olive face which Appleby fancied was assumed.
ref: 1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 22, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC:
glosses: Used in a manner intended to deceive; pretended; simulated.
synonyms: understood
glosses: Supposed or presumed.
Derived terms: assumedly
assumed name
unassumed
assuming
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈsjuːmɪŋ/
note: US, Canada, yod-dropping
ipa: /əˈsuːmɪŋ/
Senses: glosses: present participle and gerund of assume
assuming
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈsjuːmɪŋ/
note: US, Canada, yod-dropping
ipa: /əˈsuːmɪŋ/
Forms: form: assumings
Senses: examples: December 16, 1656, Thomas Burton, diary entry
No positive inference can he drawn from Nayler's confession, as to his assuming the attributes of Christ, but rather a positive denial of these assumings.
glosses: An assumption.
assuming
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈsjuːmɪŋ/
note: US, Canada, yod-dropping
ipa: /əˈsuːmɪŋ/
Forms: form: more assuming
form: most assuming
Senses: glosses: haughty; arrogant
Derived terms: assumingly
assumingness
self-assuming
unassuming
Related terms: assume
assumptious
imp
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɪmp/
rhymes: -ɪmp
Forms: form: imps
Etymology: From implementer.
Senses: topics: video-games
glosses: Synonym of god (“person who owns and runs a multi-user dungeon”).
synonyms: word: god
extra: person who owns and runs a multi-user dungeon
Polynesian
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: rhymes: -iːʒən
Forms: form: more Polynesian
form: most Polynesian
Etymology: From Polynesia + -an.
Senses: glosses: Of, from, or pertaining to Polynesia.
Derived terms: Euronesian
pollywog
Polynesian chestnut
Polynesianist
Polynesianness
Polynesian
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: rhymes: -iːʒən
Forms: form: Polynesians
Etymology: From Polynesia + -an.
Senses: examples: text: He felt having a Micronesian navigator meant he needed a pureblooded Polynesian, preferably a Hawaiian, as captain.
ref: 2007 May 27, Douglas Martin, “Kawika Kapahulehua Dies; Hawaiian Seafarer Was 76”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 08 Jun 2021:
text: Blackbirding was the euphemism given to the slave-trading that occurred in the Pacific from the mid-1800s through to the early-1900s. According to one study, blackbirding, [as] “the practice of luring Melanesians and Polynesians to toil for next to nothing was called”, involved upwards of 60,000 people between 1863 and 1904 (Horne, 2007, p. 2).
ref: 2008, Andrew David Grainger, The Browning of the All Blacks: Pacific Peoples, Rugby, and the Cultural Politics of Identity in New Zealand, page 326:
glosses: A person from Polynesia.
Derived terms: Euronesian
Polynesian
Language: English
Part of speech: name
Pronunciation: rhymes: -iːʒən
Etymology: From Polynesia + -an.
Senses: glosses: A language group spoken by these people.
Derived terms: Malayo-Polynesian
Proto-Polynesian
stalemate
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsteɪlmeɪt/
Forms: form: stalemates
Etymology: From stale + mate.
Senses: examples: text: The game is drawn when the player to move has no legal move and his/her king is not in check. The game is said to end in ‘stalemate’. This immediately ends the game, provided that the move producing the stalemate position was in accordance with Article 3 and Articles 4.2 – 4.7.
ref: 2022, “2023 Laws of Chess”, in FIDE, page 10:
topics: board-games
chess
games
glosses: The state in which the player to move is not in check but has no legal moves, resulting in a draw.
examples: text: Indian military analysts said the situation was heading into a dangerous stalemate. Neither side wants to start a war. But neither side wants to back down either.
ref: 2020 September 8, Jeffrey Gettleman, “Shots Fired Along India-China Border for First Time in Years”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 08 Sep 2020:
glosses: Any situation that has no obvious possible movement, but involves no personal loss.
glosses: Any kind of match in which neither contestant laid claim to victory; a draw.
stalemate
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsteɪlmeɪt/
Forms: form: stalemates
form: stalemating
form: stalemated
form: stalemated
Etymology: From stale + mate.
Senses: topics: board-games
chess
games
glosses: To bring about a state in which the player to move is not in check but has no legal moves.
examples: text: The North Korean nuclear issue, stalemated for the past three years, is now back in play again—not before time.
ref: 2012 February 29, Aidan Foster-Carter, “North Korea: The denuclearisation dance resumes”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 24 Apr 2025:
text: But with the war also still largely stalemated, other theatres of conflict have become more important. In Russia’s case, that includes the secret domain.
ref: 2024 March 18, Dan Sabbagh, “Volkov attack signals Russia’s return to cold war-era spying in Europe”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 27 Apr 2025:
glosses: To bring about a stalemate, in which no advance in an argument is achieved.
Related terms: check
checkmate
employment
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɪmˈplɔɪmənt/
ipa: /ɛmˈplɔɪmənt/
Forms: form: employments
form: imployment
Etymology: From employ (itself from Middle French employer, from Middle French empleier, from Latin implicō (“enfold, involve, be connected with”), itself from in- + plicō (“fold”)) + -ment.
Senses: examples: text: [I]t is certaine no man sees more of the Navye's Transactions than himselfe [the Clerk of the Acts], and possibly may speak as much to the project if required, or else he is a blockhead, and not fitt for that imployment.
ref: 1893 February (date written), Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, “Particulars of the Life of Samuel Pepys”, in Samuel Pepys; Mynors Bright, transcriber, edited by Henry B. Wheatley, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume I, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893, →OCLC, page xxvii:
glosses: The occupation or work for which one is used, and often paid.
examples: text: The personnel director handled the whole employment procedure
glosses: The act of employing.
examples: text: […] King Henry [VIII] full fraught all thoſe vvith vvealth and revvards, vvhom he retained in his imployment.
ref: a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, “Cornwall”, in The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC, page 202:
text: At the period just preceding the advent of Bartleby, I had two persons as copyists in my employment, and a promising lad as an office-boy.
ref: 1853 November–December, Herman Melville, “Bartleby”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, →OCLC:
glosses: The state of being employed.
examples: text: This new employment of his time caused no relaxation in his attention to my education.
ref: 1873, John Stuart Mill, Autobiography of John Stuart Mill:
glosses: A purpose, a use.
glosses: An activity to which one devotes time.
topics: economics
sciences
glosses: The number or percentage of people at work.
Synonyms: employ
hire
Derived terms: antiemployment
at-will employment
at will employment
co-employment
employment agency
employment at will
employment-at-will
employment contract
employment history
employment tribunal
full employment
malemployment
misemployment
nonemployment
outside employment
overemployment
preemployment
reemployment
self-employment
subemployment
underemployment
written statement of employment
Related terms: employ
employable
employed
employee
employer
spot
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /spɒt/
rhymes: -ɒt
ipa: /spɑt/
Etymology: From Middle English spot, spotte, partially from Middle Dutch spotte (“spot, speck”), and partially merging with Middle English splot, from Old English splott (“spot, plot of land”), from Proto-West Germanic *splott, from Proto-Germanic *spluttaz (“segment”), from Proto-Indo-European *splt-no- (“an off-split, segment”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- (“to split”).
Cognate with North Frisian spot (“speck, piece of ground”), Low German spot (“speck”), Old Norse spotti (“small piece”). See also splot, splotch.
Senses: examples: text: spot wheat
text: spot cash
text: a spot contract
topics: business
commerce
finance
glosses: Available on the spot; for immediate payment or delivery.
examples: text: The other bus meets yours at the intersection within one minute; it's a spot connection, and you might not make it.
glosses: Exact; precise.
Related terms: spit-spot
stale
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: stāl
ipa: /steɪl/
rhymes: -eɪl
Forms: form: stales
Etymology: From Middle English stale, from Old French estal (“fixed position, place”), but probably originally from Proto-Germanic *stāną (“to stand”): compare West Flemish stel in the same sense for ‘beer’ and ‘urine’.
Senses: examples: text: I went to Riggs's batty-cake shop, and asked 'em for a penneth of the cheapest and nicest stales, that were all but blue-mouldy, but not quite.
ref: 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd, II iii 39:
text: Frayed-looking sweet-cakes...bought as ‘stales’ from the baker.
ref: 1937, George Orwell, Road to Wigan Pier, I i 15:
glosses: Something stale; a loaf of bread or the like that is no longer fresh.