nandhakumarms/qualc-wiktionary-en huggingface dataset:
Word: stick up Part of Speech: verb 1. To rob at gunpoint. Labels: idiomatic, transitive Example: I think they intend to stick up the bank. Example: What Pimp was asking me to do was crazy. Off the fuckin' chain. Insane. He was scheming to stick up T.C. and Miss Lady's pool hall so we could pay off G, but a playa like me was getting ready to go to college and put all that two-bit robbing and stealing shit behind me. 2. To be prominent; to point upwards. Labels: idiomatic, intransitive Example: No matter how much I brush it, my hair always sticks up. 3. To speak or act in defence (of). Labels: intransitive Example: Don't let them push you around, stick up for yourself. 4. To defy, to confront, to stand up to. Labels: intransitive 5. To maintain a commitment (as, to a proposition or role) Labels: intransitive 6. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see stick, up. To put or post up by sticking. Labels: transitive Example: Stick up the postcard with a bit of tape.
Word: slapstick Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From slap + stick, calque of Italian batacchio. The pair of sticks was used by the comic character Harlequin in the commedia dell'arte. 1. A style of humor focusing on physical comedy, such as slipping on a banana peel, and with foolish characters who get into humiliating situations. Labels: uncountable 2. A pair of sticks attached at one end and used to create a slapping sound effect, used especially in slapstick comedy; a type of clapper. Labels: countable
Word: haywire Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From hay + wire. The original meaning of “likely to become tangled unpredictably or unusably, or fall apart”, as though only bound with the kind of soft, springy wire used to bind hay bales comes from usage in New England lumber camps circa 1905 where haywire outfit became the common term to refer to slap-dash collections of logging tools. To go haywire has since evolved to represent the act of falling apart or behaving unpredictably, as would wire spooled under tension springing into an unmanageable tangle once a piece had been removed from the factory spool, e.g., “he took off the back of his watch, removed a gear and the whole works went haywire.” Pronunciation: /ˈheɪ.waɪ.ə(ɹ)/, /ˈheɪ.waɪɚ/ 1. Wire used to bind bales of hay. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: MOWERS AND HAY RAKES, HAY PRESSES, HAY TIES AND HAY WIRE.
Word: haywire Part of Speech: adj Etymology: From hay + wire. The original meaning of “likely to become tangled unpredictably or unusably, or fall apart”, as though only bound with the kind of soft, springy wire used to bind hay bales comes from usage in New England lumber camps circa 1905 where haywire outfit became the common term to refer to slap-dash collections of logging tools. To go haywire has since evolved to represent the act of falling apart or behaving unpredictably, as would wire spooled under tension springing into an unmanageable tangle once a piece had been removed from the factory spool, e.g., “he took off the back of his watch, removed a gear and the whole works went haywire.” Pronunciation: /ˈheɪ.waɪ.ə(ɹ)/, /ˈheɪ.waɪɚ/ 1. Roughly-made, unsophisticated, decrepit (from the use of haywire for temporary repairs). 2. Behaviorally erratic or uncontrollable, especially of a machine or mechanical process. Example: It was working fine until it went haywire and wouldn't stop printing blank sheets. Example: Those kids go haywire when they don't get what they want.
Word: haywire Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From hay + wire. The original meaning of “likely to become tangled unpredictably or unusably, or fall apart”, as though only bound with the kind of soft, springy wire used to bind hay bales comes from usage in New England lumber camps circa 1905 where haywire outfit became the common term to refer to slap-dash collections of logging tools. To go haywire has since evolved to represent the act of falling apart or behaving unpredictably, as would wire spooled under tension springing into an unmanageable tangle once a piece had been removed from the factory spool, e.g., “he took off the back of his watch, removed a gear and the whole works went haywire.” Pronunciation: /ˈheɪ.waɪ.ə(ɹ)/, /ˈheɪ.waɪɚ/ 1. To attach or fix with haywire. Labels: rare, transitive
Word: talk a blue streak Part of Speech: verb 1. To talk for a long duration of time, at a rapid pace without giving others a chance to speak, or to the point of tedium. Labels: idiomatic, informal Example: She's normally a quiet person, but she will talk a blue streak about fashion, if you let her. Example: talking a blue streak two miles to her house
Word: menstruate Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From menstruum + -ate (verb-forming suffix); sense 2 (“to undergo menstruation”) is possibly a back-formation from menstruation. Pronunciation: /ˈmɛnstɹʊeɪt/, /ˌmɛnstɹuˈeɪt/, /ˈmɛnstɹəˌweɪt/, /ˌmɛnˈstɹeɪt/ 1. To stain with or as if with menses. Labels: obsolete, rare, transitive 2. To undergo menstruation, to have a period. Labels: intransitive Example: A woman may have every quality or attribute of marriageableness who menstruates irregularly, or rarely, or even who has never menstruated at all. Example: Among the ancient Iranians, the puerpera, like the menstruating woman, was regarded as "unclean".
Word: menstruate Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Etymology tree English menstruum Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātuslbor. English -ate English menstruate From menstruum + -ate (adjective-forming usffix). 1. Menstrual. Labels: not-comparable, obsolete
Word: put the kibosh on Part of Speech: verb Etymology: See kibosh. 1. To halt, stop, or squelch. Labels: slang, transitive Example: Someone really needs to go put the kibosh on that noisy party. Example: ("Hoo-roa," ejaculates a pot-boy in a parenthesis, "put the kye-bosh on her, Mary.")
Word: deadhead Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From dead + head. Some senses are derived from theater jargon (originally spelled dead head) for audience members admitted without paying, which probably arose in analogy to dead weight or deadwood in reference to their lack of contribution to revenue or in reference to their unenthusiastic (dead) response to performances. Perhaps even from Latin caput mortuum, alchemy term for distillation residue. As Paul Quinion writes: Similarly, the term was applied to a dull or lazy person, one who contributes nothing to an enterprise, only in the early years of the twentieth century, well after the theatrical and transport senses had become well established. Pronunciation: /ˈdɛdhɛd/ 1. To admit to a performance without charge. Labels: transitive Example: […] the "puffing" system in criticism, whereby newspaper people were deadheaded in exchange for complimentary notices. 2. To travel as a deadhead, or non-paying passenger. Labels: intransitive 3. To drive an empty vehicle. Labels: intransitive, transitive Example: Kit had fallen into conversation with a footplate man who was deadheading back out to Samarkand, where he lived with his wife and children. 4. To send (a person or message) for free. Labels: transitive Example: Washington suggested that she get some old friend of the family to come with her, and said the Senator would “deadhead” him home again as soon as he had grown tired, of the sights of the capital. Example: He said that if the operator had taken $800 and sent the message at the regular rate, which was twenty-five cents, it would have been all right, as the Jew would be punished for trying to bribe a military operator; but when the operator took the $800 and then sent the message deadhead, he couldn't stand it, and he would never relent. 5. (transitive) To remove spent or dead blossoms from a plant. Example: If you deadhead your roses regularly, they will bloom all season.
Word: everybody and his cousin Part of Speech: noun 1. Synonym of everybody and his brother. Example: Everybody and his cousin will be in line for opening night with free popcorn!
Word: menstruation Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From menstruum + -ation, modelled after Late Latin menstruatio. The word is a cognate with French menstruation, Spanish menstruación, which displaced Old English mōnaþblōd (literally “monthblood”). Pronunciation: /ˌmɛnstɹuːˈeɪʃən/, /ˌmɛnstɹʊˈeɪʃən/, /ˌmɛnstɹuˈeɪʃən/, /-stɹəˈweɪ-/, /ˌmɛnˈstɹeɪʃən/ 1. The periodic discharging of the menses, the flow of blood and cells from the lining of the uterus in unfertilized females of humans and other primates. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: It would seem that in Avebury, Stonehenge, and Malta the mystery cult of menstruation/mensuration reached its most consummate development. Example: [T]he release of semen from the penis predominantly symbolizes a forceful masculine operation, an orgasmic ‘rush’ – ejaculate refers to a sudden happening, an ejection – while the ‘loss’ of blood during menstruation is viewed as a more or less passive occurrence. Even the metaphors employed to depict these two aspects of corporeality serve to situate them on differently gendered poles. Man ‘spoofs off’ or ‘shoots his load’, while woman ‘gets her visitor’, ‘has got her monthly’. 2. An instance of menstruation, the part of each month during which a fertile woman menstruates. Labels: countable, uncountable
Word: talk turkey Part of Speech: verb 1. To talk or negotiate plainly, frankly, or seriously. Labels: US, idiomatic Example: An Erie car loaded with live turkeys . . . was delivered to the New-York and New-England Railroad yesterday. . . . This first cargo is symbolical of the fact that they will be able hereafter to "talk turkey" to all competitors for New-England business. Example: I'm here to talk turkey. What's your price?
Word: wash out Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From wash + out. 1. To wash the inside of something. Example: We must wash out the bins; they are full of maggots. Example: This engine, and the branch engine, were washed out regularly after six days' work by the pumpman (but not on a Monday) the spare engine being used to cover their normal duties on such occasions. 2. To remove something by washing. Example: He washed out the stain. 3. To be removed by washing. Example: That stain washed out easily. 4. To wear away by the flow of water; to erode. Labels: idiomatic Example: The sandcastle was washed out by the tide. Example: The railway, which is single track throughout, skirts the left bank of the estuary of the River Colne, and was washed out over a length of about three miles. 5. To cancel due to bad weather. Labels: idiomatic Example: The continuous rain washed out the cricket match. 6. To lose traction while going around a turn, especially in cycling, motorsports and skiing/snowboarding. Labels: idiomatic Example: The rider washed out around that last turn and hit a tree. 7. To fail utterly at something one has attempted.
Word: cold turkey Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Various explanations; see Cold turkey § Etymology on Wikipedia. 1. A sudden and complete withdrawal from a dependent substance, especially a drug. Labels: idiomatic, informal, uncountable 2. The physiological effects of such a withdrawal. Labels: uncountable 3. Something exposed as a target due to surmountable defense. Labels: US, slang, uncountable
Word: cold turkey Part of Speech: adv Etymology: Various explanations; see Cold turkey § Etymology on Wikipedia. 1. Not gradually; all at once; referring especially to quitting a habit by force of will rather than by a gradual reduction. Labels: idiomatic, not-comparable Example: It is difficult, but possible to quit smoking cold turkey. Example: I knew that, if I had daily access to video games, I would spend literally every day playing them, forever. So I cut myself off, more or less cold turkey, and as a result I was more or less happy and productive.
Word: cold turkey Part of Speech: verb Etymology: Various explanations; see Cold turkey § Etymology on Wikipedia. 1. To undergo sudden and complete withdrawal from a dependent substance, especially a drug. Labels: informal, intransitive
Word: washroom Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From wash + room in reference to its sinks, but generally used euphemistically outside of Canada and the United States. Pronunciation: /ˈwɒʃrʊm/, /ˈwɒʃruːm/ 1. A room intended to wash the face and hands. Example: Bright, modern offices, washrooms and messrooms are located in the centre block. 2. A room with a toilet, particularly a public toilet. Labels: Canada, US, euphemistic, rare
Word: washstand Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From wash + stand. 1. A table containing a basin and a pitcher of water for washing. Example: The less quality the more saleable they were. An abhorrent-looking stained oak wash-stand with a marble top and inset tiles, or a sideboard with bevelled mirrors in the back, or an enamelled wardrobe with stamped wood panels were much preferred to comparatively innocuous examples of the same articles in plain wood. 2. In a stable or garage, a place in the floor prepared so that carriages or automobiles may be washed there and the water run off. Labels: dated Example: Washstand in an Electric Garage. […] In a few garages arrangements are made for washing cars in any position on the storage floor, so that it is not necessary to move them on to and off the washrack.
Word: wastage Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree English waste Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icus Latin -āticus Latin -āticum Old French -agebor. Middle English -age English -age English wastage From waste + -age. Pronunciation: /ˈweɪstɪdʒ/ 1. The amount or proportion of something that is wasted or lost by deterioration or other natural process. Labels: uncountable Example: The average wastage is 1.5% in the grocery department. Example: wastage from fruits and vegetables is estimated at 4.58%–15.88% 2. The periodical turnover of personnel in an organisation by death, retirement or resignation, as perceived by those aspiring to promotion or appointment in the organisation. Labels: uncountable 3. Anything lost by wear or waste. Labels: countable 4. Goods that are damaged, out of date, reduced, or generally unsaleable, which are destined to be thrown away and which are written off as a loss. Labels: uncountable 5. The act of abandoning animal carcasses or parts, usually illegal. Labels: countable
Word: wasted Part of Speech: adj Pronunciation: /ˈweɪstɪd/ 1. Not profitably used. 2. Ravaged or deteriorated. 3. Emaciated and haggard. 4. Exhausted. Labels: slang Example: A brief steep ascent and then a more gradual ascent through snow. Bets probably had taken my water container by then. Mack asks how I'm doing. I manage the words — pretty wasted. She offers to take the tent. 5. Very drunk or stoned. Labels: slang Example: Well I'm near the end and I just ain't got the time / And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home Example: I went to the minimart...It’s about a fifteen minute walk both ways. But I didn’t wanna drive cause I was really wasted. 6. Low weight-for-height (for a person).
Word: wasted Part of Speech: verb Pronunciation: /ˈweɪstɪd/ 1. simple past and past participle of waste Labels: form-of, participle, past
Word: commis Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Borrowed from French commis. Pronunciation: /ˈkɒmi/, /ˈkɒmɪs/, /kəˈmi/ 1. An assistant to a chef. Labels: in-compounds 2. A deputy or clerk of a foreign official. Labels: obsolete
Word: voyageurs Part of Speech: noun 1. plural of voyageur Labels: form-of, plural
Word: aube Part of Speech: noun Pronunciation: /ɔːb/ 1. Obsolete form of alb. Labels: alt-of, obsolete Example: For washing eleven aubes and as many head-clothes
Word: room for a pony Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From the British television comedy series, Keeping Up Appearances (1990–1995), wherein social climber Hyacinth Bucket constantly and variously describes her sister Violet, who married well, as “the one with the […] and room for a pony”. 1. minimum trappings of the minor landed gentry Labels: UK, humorous, uncountable Example: Eventually he fell in love, and by age twenty was living in a gay couple, complete with house, garden, swimming pool, and room for a pony. Example: “ […] In the back yard, we have a screened terrace, a swimming pool, a swing set and room for a pony.” His grin was boyish as she, too, smiled at the oblique reference to the popular British comedy ‘Keeping up Appearances’.
Word: ascend Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From Middle English ascenden, borrowed from Old French ascendre, from Latin ascendō (“to go up, climb up to”), from ad (“to”) + scandō (“to climb”); see scan. Unrelated to accede other than common ad prefix. Pronunciation: /əˈsɛnd/ 1. To move upward, to fly, to soar. Labels: intransitive Example: He ascended to heaven upon a cloud. 2. To slope in an upward direction. Labels: intransitive 3. To go up. Labels: transitive Example: You ascend the stairs and take a right. Example: When a train has to ascend the incline, it first runs down, engine first, from the station about 60 or 70 yards. Then comes behind it the aforesaid truck, or one similar, which, being attached to an endless wire rope, a communication is made by means of the electric telegraph to the engineman at the top of the incline, when the fixed engine begins to work, and the train, partly pulled by the locomotive before, and partly pushed by the truck behind, rapidly ascends, taking somewhere about three minutes to get up. 4. To succeed a ruler on (the throne). Labels: ambitransitive Example: She ascended the throne when her mother abdicated. Example: She ascended to the throne when her mother abdicated. 5. To rise; to become higher, more noble, etc. Labels: figuratively, intransitive 6. To trace, search or go backwards temporally (e.g., through records, genealogies, routes, etc.). Example: Our inquiries ascend to the remotest antiquity. 7. To become higher in pitch. Labels: transitive 8. To cease being an incel, generally by losing one's virginity and engaging in sexual intercourse, or by forming a romantic relationship. Example: Instead of using sexual conquest as an opportunity to “ascend,” these members advocated for pursuing internal self-improvement. Example: As such, race and class are not only factors in attractiveness (i.e. “Just Be White” and “job/career maxxing” are often used in the forums), but is also a factor when incels discuss ways for them to “ascend” and leave their incel status.
Word: rat runner Part of Speech: noun 1. A motorist who drives through residential streets to avoid traffic congestion on the main roads.
Word: manhattan Part of Speech: noun 1. Alternative spelling of Manhattan (“cocktail”). Labels: alt-of, alternative 2. a bar chart representing the number of runs scored in each over (supposed to resemble a skyline of skyscrapers).
Word: agar Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Malay agar (“jelly”) or agar-agar. Pronunciation: /ˈeɪ.ɡə/, /ˈeɪ.ɡɑː/, /ˈɑˌɡɑɹ/, /ˈæ.ɡəɹ/, /ˈeɪˌɡɑɹ/ 1. A gelatinous substance obtained from red algae, especially Gracilaria species, used as a bacterial culture medium, in electrophoresis and as a food additive. Labels: countable, uncountable 2. A culture medium based on this material. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: An hour before, he had been in lab, removing from the incubator his boxes of agar plates. 3. A pattern that is periodic in both space and time covering the whole plane. Labels: countable, uncountable
Word: agar Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Possibly from Hindi अगर (agar), from Sanskrit अगरु (agaru). Pronunciation: /ˈeɪ.ɡə/, /ˈeɪ.ɡɑː/, /ˈɑˌɡɑɹ/, /ˈæ.ɡəɹ/, /ˈeɪˌɡɑɹ/ 1. agarwood Labels: countable, uncountable
Word: maidenhead Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree English maiden Proto-Indo-European *keyt-der. Proto-Germanic *haiduzder. Proto-West Germanic *-haiduder. Old English -hād Middle English -hed, -hede English -head English maidenhead From maiden + -head. 1. The hymen. Labels: countable, literally Example: Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads; take it in what sense thou wilt. 2. Virginity. Labels: metonymically, uncountable Example: Put in but little Silver or Gold, for if you do, you quite spoil the Compoſition ; but inſtead thereof, add of Tradeſmens Bills for Cloaths, to the Value of 100 l. [¶] Laſtly, Take away the Girl's Maidenhead, and then the Compoſition is fit for Uſe. Example: Gallants, a bashful poet bids me say, He's come to lose his maidenhead to-day. Be not too fierce; for he's but green of age, And ne'er, till now, debauch'd upon the stage.
Word: waste away Part of Speech: verb 1. To lose energy or become weak and feeble. Labels: idiomatic Example: She watched him waste away from lack of food or exercise. Example: The perennial Arctic ice cap—the sea ice that persists through winter and summer—is wasting away. Over the past half century it has shrunk by more than a million square miles
Word: wasteful Part of Speech: adj Etymology: From Middle English wastful; equivalent to waste + -ful. Pronunciation: /ˈweɪstfəl/ 1. Inclined to waste or squander money or resources. Example: As a narrative, competition of the type seen between the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) and the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) was seen as wasteful, with duplicate routes reflecting an unnecessary use of resources. 2. Uninhabited, desolate. Labels: obsolete Example: Shortly vnto the vvaſtefull vvoods ſhe came, / VVhereas ſhe found the Goddeſſe vvith her crevv, […]
Word: wastefulness Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English wastfulnes; equivalent to wasteful + -ness. 1. imprudent or excessive expenditure or the waste of resources Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Arsenal paid the price for that wastefulness when Chelsea took the lead after 14 minutes. Mata was afforded to much space by Santos and when the ponderous Per Mertesacker missed his cross Lampard timed his arrival perfectly to head past Wojciech Szczesny.
Word: wastepaper Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From waste + paper. Pronunciation: /ˈweɪstˌpeɪpɚ/ 1. Unwanted paper that has been discarded. Labels: countable, uncountable
Word: wastepaper basket Part of Speech: noun 1. A small open container for discarded paper etc; a wastebasket.
Word: waste pipe Part of Speech: noun 1. A pipe that carries off liquid waste; a drain or drainpipe.
Word: waste products Part of Speech: noun 1. plural of waste product Labels: form-of, plural
Word: watcher Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English wacchere, wachere, wacher, equivalent to watch + -er. Pronunciation: /ˈwɒt͡ʃ.ə/, /ˈwɑ.t͡ʃɚ/, /ˈwɔt͡ʃ.ə/ 1. Someone who watches or observes. 2. Someone who watches or observes. Labels: US 3. Someone who keeps vigil. 4. A guard. Example: Near-synonyms: watchman, watchwoman 5. A kind of angel appointed to watch over the human realm, in particular one of those who became fallen angels and begot the Nephilim. Labels: Judaism, historical Example: the Book of Watchers
Word: watchful Part of Speech: adj Etymology: From Middle English waccheful, equivalent to watch + -ful. Compare West Frisian waaks (“watchful”), Dutch waaks, waakzaam (“watchful”), German wachsam (“watchful”), Swedish vaksam (“watchful”). Pronunciation: /ˈwɒt͡ʃ.fəl/, /ˈwɔt͡ʃ.fəl/ 1. Fully observant, vigilant, or aware. Example: The teacher kept a watchful eye on her pupils during the school trip. Example: But there was so much at stake that I had to take some risk—though even when I was far away there has never been a day when the Shire has not been guarded by watchful eyes.
Word: watchfulness Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree English watchful Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English watchfulness From watchful + -ness. 1. The state or quality of being watchful; alertness, vigilance or wakefulness. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Continuous watchfulness is maintained around the clock. Example: The first thing to be undertaken in this weighty work, is a watchfulness over the failings and an inlargement of the dominion, of the Senses.
Word: watchmaker Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From watch + maker. Compare clockmaker. Pronunciation: /ˈwɔtʃˌmeɪkə/ 1. A craftsperson or company who makes and/or maintains watches. Example: The watchmakers of Switzerland were pioneers of screw machine technology. 2. God in His role as the creator according to the watchmaker analogy. Labels: capitalized, often Example: Near-synonym: clockmaker Example: We have the great watchmaker to thank for these glorious sunrises and sunsets.
Word: watchman Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English waccheman. By surface analysis, watch + -man. Pronunciation: /ˈwɒtʃmən/ 1. A man set to watch: a man who keeps guard, especially one who guards a building, or the streets of a city, by night; (loosely) any such person of any sex or gender. Example: Near-synonyms: watcher, watchwoman Example: The visits of the watchman to that (then) obscure and ill-inhabited neighborhood were more regulated by his indolence than his duty; and Clarence knew that it would be in vain to listen for his cry or tarry for his assistance.
Word: watch over Part of Speech: verb 1. To guard and protect. Labels: idiomatic Example: She stayed up all night to watch over the sick infant. Example: I like to think / (it has to be!) / of a cybernetic ecology / where we are free of our labors / and joined back to nature, / returned to our mammal / brothers and sisters, / and all watched over / by machines of loving grace.
Word: watchstrap Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From watch + strap. 1. Synonym of watchband.
Word: watchword Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English wacche word, wacchworde, morphologically as watch (“guard, sentinel, sentry”) + word. Pronunciation: /ˈwɒt͡ʃwɜː(ɹ)d/ 1. A word used as a motto, as expressive of a principle, belief, or rule of action; a rallying cry. Example: "How this perpetual gaiety," exclaimed Louis, "jars upon the ear! Good Heaven! is farewell to be said so gladly? I sometimes start when I think upon the hollowness of all that surrounds me. I often wish my eye had the power of searching the inmost depths of the bosoms whose watchword is my name." Example: For-ward! be our watchword, Steps and voices joined; / Seek the things before us, Not a look behind. 2. A prearranged reply to the challenge of a sentry or a guard; a password or signal by which friends can be known from enemies. Example: a Watchword sufficient for him that is wiſe
Word: water closet Part of Speech: noun 1. A room containing a flush toilet. Labels: Europe 2. A flush toilet itself. Labels: UK 3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see water, closet.
Word: watercolour Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From water + colour. Pronunciation: /ˈwɔ.tɜˌkʌ.lɜ/ 1. A water-soluble pigment or paint. Labels: countable Example: Jim's aunt uses only watercolours to paint her pictures. 2. A painting made by using such pigment. Labels: countable Example: Jim's aunt paints beautiful watercolours. Example: She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running / Like a watercolour in the rain 3. This kind of painting as a genre. Labels: uncountable Example: I'm not a big fan of watercolour; I much prefer oil painting.
Word: watercolour Part of Speech: adj Etymology: From water + colour. Pronunciation: /ˈwɔ.tɜˌkʌ.lɜ/ 1. Pertaining to the methods or products of watercolor. Labels: not-comparable
Word: watercolour Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From water + colour. Pronunciation: /ˈwɔ.tɜˌkʌ.lɜ/ 1. To paint using watercolour
Word: watercress Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English water cresse, water-kresse, watercrasse, water cars, equivalent to water + cress. Cognate with West Frisian waterkers (“watercress”), Dutch waterkers (“watercress”), Swedish vattenkrasse (“watercress”). Pronunciation: /ˈwɔːtəkɹɛs/, /ˈwɔtəɹkɹɛs/ 1. A perennial European herb, Nasturtium officinale, that grows in freshwater streams; used in salads and as a garnish. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: A spring wells up in the centre of the village, and watercress beds lie beside the stream running alongside the main street. 2. A similar plant, Nasturtium microphyllum. Labels: countable, uncountable
Word: gemütlich Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Unadapted borrowing from German gemütlich, from Middle High German gemüetlich, from gemüet (“mind, mentality”) + -lich (“-ly”), equivalent to Gemüt (“mind, soul”) + -lich (“-ly”). More at mood, -ly. Pronunciation: /ɡəˈmytlɪç/, /ɡəˈmutlɪk/, /ɡəˈmyːtlɪç/ 1. Comfortable, cosy, pleasant. Example: [She] takes splendid care of her husband, and looks after their five-room apartment, with its gemütlich mélange of plump hassocks and squashy chairs and cream-colored lace window curtains. Example: Judy told me of its charms because its gemütlich, nineteenth-century naïveté appealed strongly to her; either she was innocent in her tastes or else sophisticated in seeing in this humble little work delights and possibilities the other girls missed. 2. Friendly, genial, cheerful, easy-going. Example: My mother, being gemütlich by nature, would, I believe, have loved to dispense with servants altogether. Example: The censors cut one in which Judd Hirsch, who plays Mr. Goldblum's gemutlich, Yiddish-spouting father,
Word: water flea Part of Speech: noun 1. Any of various aquatic crustacea of the order Diplostraca, characterised by their jumping or jerky mode of swimming.
Word: waterfront Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wed- Proto-Indo-European *-r̥ Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥ Proto-Germanic *watōr Proto-West Germanic *watar Old English wæter Middle English water English water English front English waterfront From water + front. 1. The land alongside a body of water. Example: With just the turn of a shoulder she indicated the water front, where, at the end of the dock on which they stood, lay the good ship, Mount Vernon, river packet, the black smoke already pouring from her stacks. Example: The wide prospect up stream was grey and lowering, the long still-distant waterfront of Dundee, and the Fife shore were alike colourless, and there was ample evidence of rough weather not far ahead. 2. The land alongside a body of water.
Word: topple Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From top + -le (frequentative verb suffix). Pronunciation: /ˈtɑpl̩/, /ˈtɒpl̩/ 1. To push or throw over. Labels: transitive Example: The massed crowds toppled the statue of the former dictator. 2. To overturn. 3. To overthrow something. Labels: figuratively Example: to topple one's rival Example: Barla Von: Most people think I deal in finances, but my real currency is knowledge. I trade information and it has made me very wealthy. Barla Von: But the Shadow Broker is the true master. Every day, he buys and sells secrets that could topple governments, always giving them to the highest bidder. 4. To totter and fall, or to lean as if about to do so. Labels: intransitive Example: The pile of pennies began to topple. Example: […] yonder cloud That rises upward always higher, ⁠And onward drags a labouring breast, ⁠And topples round the dreary west, A looming bastion fringed with fire.
Word: topple Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From top + -le (frequentative verb suffix). Pronunciation: /ˈtɑpl̩/, /ˈtɒpl̩/ 1. A fall (an instance of falling over). Labels: informal 2. A cascade of dominoes falling, such that each fall causes the next domino to topple.
Word: overturn Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From Middle English overturnen, equivalent to over- + turn. Compare also Middle English overterven (“to overturn”), see terve. Pronunciation: /ˌəʊvə(ɹ)ˈtɜː(ɹ)n/ 1. To turn over, capsize or upset. Labels: ambitransitive Example: About three or four minutes later still an express freight on the up main line ran into the wreckage at about 35 m.p.h. Its engine also overturned and 15 more wagons were added to the mounting pile of wreckage. Example: We also found that the only emergency egress from the tram was by smashing the front or rear windscreens, and that emergency lighting had failed when the tram overturned. 2. To overthrow or destroy. Labels: transitive 3. To reverse (a decision); to overrule or rescind. Labels: transitive Example: In a report for the Sun on Sunday, Barak claimed that Andrew is consulting lawyers about overturning that settlement. Example: Harvey was rightfully convicted. It’s unfortunate that the court has overturned his conviction. As a survivor, I am beyond disappointed. 4. To diminish the significance of a previous defeat by winning; to make a comeback from. Labels: transitive Example: Villa spent most of the second period probing from wide areas and had a succession of corners but despite their profligacy they will be glad to overturn the 6-0 hammering they suffered at St James' Park in August following former boss Martin O'Neill's departure Example: There were so many heroes for Leicester on an evening when they played with tremendous courage and belief to overturn the 2-1 deficit from the first leg, yet it was hard to look beyond Kasper Schmeichel for the game’s outstanding performer. 5. To undergo a limnic eruption, where dissolved gas suddenly erupts from the depths. Labels: intransitive
Word: overturn Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English overturnen, equivalent to over- + turn. Compare also Middle English overterven (“to overturn”), see terve. Pronunciation: /ˌəʊvə(ɹ)ˈtɜː(ɹ)n/, /ˈəʊvə(ɹ)ˌtɜː(ɹ)n/ 1. A turning over or upside-down; inversion. 2. The overturning or overthrow of some institution or state of affairs; ruin.
Word: one up Part of Speech: verb 1. To outdo, to perform something slightly better than a competitor's prior effort. Labels: idiomatic Example: Every year the neighbors try to one-up each other with their holiday lights.
Word: one up Part of Speech: noun 1. An advantage over someone. Labels: especially Example: WePay wants to get one-up in the mobile payments race with its new iOS app for small businesses. 2. Alternative spelling of 1-up (“extra life”). Labels: alt-of, alternative Example: If you hit that block, you can get a one up.
Word: one-up Part of Speech: verb 1. Alternative form of one up. Labels: alt-of, alternative
Word: one-up Part of Speech: noun 1. Alternative form of one up. Labels: alt-of, alternative
Word: one-upmanship Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From one-up + -manship, probably modelled after gamesmanship. Pronunciation: /(ˌ)wʌnˈʌpmənʃɪp/, /wənˈəpmənˌʃɪp/ 1. The art or practice of successively outdoing a competitor. Example: They are focused on one-upmanship, which is the essence of a competitive spirit. Example: [V]arious emirates wanted their own ‘international’ airport, then an ‘international’ harbour, then cement factories, then container ports, then petro-chemical plants, then skyscraper hotels and, most recently, ‘international’ trade centres. […] The impetus for these projects continues to be ‘one-upmanship’ and inter-emirate competition for commercial pre-eminence and regional prestige. […] Outsiders, anxious to win lucrative contracts, have consistently taken advantage of these features of competitive one-upmanship among the UAE member states. 2. A succession of instances of outdoing a competitor. Example: I think all readers will be impressed by the manner in which Marwick places his own analysis in relation to previous studies both of sorcery and of conflict in general. His punctiliousness here contrasts sharply with the practice of some anthropologists who, in a contest of one-upmanship, score points either by ignoring earlier work or even by baldly asserting that it was all wrong. Example: Even these debates rarely constituted an exchange of ideas; they more resembled a contest of sectional champions, or a game of righteous, intellectual, and regional one-upsmanship.
Word: graham Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Named after Sylvester Graham. Pronunciation: /ɡɹæm/, /ˈɡɹeɪ.əm/ 1. Flour made by grinding wheat berries including the bran. Labels: uncountable 2. A graham cracker. Labels: countable Example: These classic, wholesome grahams are sweetened only with honey and molasses, and contain no saturated fat.
Word: killing Part of Speech: adj Etymology: From Middle English kyllyng; equivalent to kill + -ing. Pronunciation: /ˈkɪl.ɪŋ/ 1. That literally deprives of life; lethal, deadly, fatal. 2. Devastatingly attractive. Labels: dated, idiomatic Example: Should true Proportion ev'ry Mortal grace, / And Semetry be seen in ev'ry Face: / Beauty no longer would be thought divine, / Nor would its Charms with half the Lustre shine: / No courtly Dame a killing Look could boast, / If once the Foils of Homeliness were lost. Example: He sprang to open the door for the ladies, when they retired, with the most killing grace […] 3. That makes one ‘die’ with laughter; very funny. Labels: idiomatic, informal Example: Livia found her ‘killing’, and derived such amusement from her Martinique French that he was forced to enjoy her as well.
Word: killing Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English kyllyng; equivalent to kill + -ing. Pronunciation: /ˈkɪl.ɪŋ/ 1. The act of killing. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: In fact, Tarzan had never killed for “pleasure,” nor to him was there pleasure in killing. 2. An instance of someone being killed. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The outrage over the brutal killings of peaceful demonstrators in Lhasa in March 1989 quickly faded after the massacres in Beijing in June. Example: A police officer in neighboring Mekit county told RFA he was informed that police were searching the houses for a suspect from Pichan (in Chinese, Shanshan) county in Xinjiang’s Turpan prefecture when the killings occurred. 3. A large amount of money. Labels: countable, informal, uncountable, usually Example: He made a killing on the stock market. Example: The result is, in the end, the superintendent agrees to hold up another race, and the victim arranges to obtain all the money he can get in order to bet it on a sure thing. When the great "killing" is made, and the stripped victim goes back to consult with the superintendent[…]
Word: killing Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From Middle English kyllyng; equivalent to kill + -ing. Pronunciation: /ˈkɪl.ɪŋ/ 1. present participle and gerund of kill Labels: form-of, gerund, participle, present
Word: Frederick Part of Speech: name Etymology: From German Friedrich, Friederich and influenced by Latin Friderīcus, Frederīcus, from Old High German Fridurih, from Frankish *Friþurīk, from Proto-Germanic *Friþurīks, from *friþuz (“peace”) + *rīks (“king, ruler”), literally “peace king, peaceful ruler”. Pronunciation: /ˈfɹɛd(ə)ɹɪk/ 1. A male given name from the Germanic languages. Example: Have you not heard speak of Mariana, the sister of Frederick, the great soldier who miscarried at sea? Example: When I referred to the confusion which would result from the presence in the house of two people with the same name, she tossed her head and said it would be easy to obviate that by calling me Frederick instead of Fred. - - - Imagine Harry Bolles and other kindred spirits calling me stiff, august Frederick! I vowed that this should not be brought to pass - - - 2. A surname. 3. A town in Weld County, Colorado. 4. A tiny city in Rice County, Kansas. 5. A city, the county seat of Frederick County, Maryland, United States. 6. A ghost town in Macomb County, Michigan. 7. An unincorporated community in Miami County, Ohio, United States. 8. A city, the county seat of Tillman County, Oklahoma, United States. 9. A town in Brown County, South Dakota.
Word: situate Part of Speech: verb Etymology: Borrowed from Late Latin situātus, past participle of Medieval Latin situō (“to locate, place”), from Latin situs (“a site”). Pronunciation: /ˈsɪt͡ʃ.u.eɪt/, /ˈsɪt.ju.eɪt/ 1. To place on or into a physical location. Labels: transitive Example: The statue is situated in a corner hardly visible to the public, except through a window from an outside maintenance area situated behind the building. 2. To place or put into an intangible place or position, such as social, ethical, fictional, etc. Labels: figuratively, transitive Example: The mayor is situated between probable censure and possible recall. Example: Other critiques have not focussed on the lexicography but rather have situated Hobson-Jobson within a larger postcolonialist critique of the British imperial project.
Word: situate Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Borrowed from Late Latin situātus, past participle of Medieval Latin situō (“to locate, place”), from Latin situs (“a site”). Pronunciation: /ˈsɪt͡ʃ.u.ət/, /ˈsɪt.ju.ət/ 1. Situated. Labels: archaic Example: Wadley in Berkshire is situate in a vale, though not so fertile a soil as some vales afford […]. Example: Pleasure situate in hill and dale. 2. Situated; located. Example: [...] graunted unto ye sayd Arthure Herrys for his Creast on the heaulme a Stagges head losengy couppe siluer & gules horned gold situate on a wreathe gold & azure mantelled gules doubled siluer which togither w ye sayd ancient Armes viz[…] In the yere of our Lord God MCCCCClxxviij […] Example: The arms of the College of Surgeons in Endinburgh, I fancy, afford the only instance of what is presumably a corpse, the blazon being: "Azure, a man (human body) fesswise between a dexter hand having an eye on the palm issuing out of a cloud downward and a castle situate on a rock proper, within a bordure or charged with several instruments peculiar to the art (sic); on a canton of the first a saltire argent surmounted of a thistle vert, crowned of the third."
Word: posted Part of Speech: verb Pronunciation: /ˈpoʊstɪd/, /ˈpəʊstɪd/ 1. simple past and past participle of post Labels: form-of, participle, past
Word: exception Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰ Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰs Proto-Italic *eks Latin ex Latin ex- substratebor.? Proto-Indo-European *kap- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti Proto-Italic *kapjō Old Latin kapiō Latin capiō Latin excipiō Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin exceptiōder. Old French excepcion Anglo-Norman excepciounbor. Middle English exception English exception From Middle English exception, excepcioun, from Anglo-Norman excepcioun, from Old French excepcion, from Latin exceptiō. Equivalent to except + -ion. Pronunciation: /əkˈsɛpʃən/, /ɪkˈsɛpʃən/ 1. The act of excepting or excluding; exclusion; restriction by taking out something which would otherwise be included, as in a class, statement, rule. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: the exception of a rule 2. That which is excluded from others; a person, thing, or case, specified as distinct, or not included. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: That rule is usually true, but there are a few exceptions. Example: The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution had abolished slavery but allowed one major exception: slavery remained appropriate as punishment for a crime. 3. An objection, on legal grounds; also, as in conveyancing, a clause by which the grantor excepts or reserves something before the right is transferred. Labels: countable, uncountable 4. An objection; cavil; dissent; disapprobation; offense; cause of offense. Labels: countable, uncountable 5. An interruption in normal processing, typically caused by an error condition, that can be raised ("thrown") by one part of the program and handled ("caught") by another part. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: null pointer exception
Word: exception Part of Speech: verb Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰ Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰs Proto-Italic *eks Latin ex Latin ex- substratebor.? Proto-Indo-European *kap- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti Proto-Italic *kapjō Old Latin kapiō Latin capiō Latin excipiō Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin exceptiōder. Old French excepcion Anglo-Norman excepciounbor. Middle English exception English exception From Middle English exception, excepcioun, from Anglo-Norman excepcioun, from Old French excepcion, from Latin exceptiō. Equivalent to except + -ion. Pronunciation: /əkˈsɛpʃən/, /ɪkˈsɛpʃən/ 1. To throw an exception. Labels: informal, intransitive, rare
Word: gamesmanship Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From game + -s- + -manship or gamesman + -ship. 1. The use of legal but unsporting tactics to gain an advantage over one’s opponent. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: They kept the other team waiting on the field until the last possible moment – that was a clear case of gamesmanship. Example: [Tina] Satter’s film, with its dramatization of the investigators’ formalized gamesmanship and [Reality] Winner’s strategic maneuvering, is fascinating but narrow, both regarding the protagonist and the law at large.
Word: unsporting Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- English sporting English unsporting From un- + sporting. 1. unfair, or not sportsmanlike 2. Not taking part in sport; unsporty. Example: The bright, unsporting boy is labelled a swot, geek or nerd, the artist any other term that throws his masculinity into doubt.
Word: tactic Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Borrowed from New Latin tactica, from Ancient Greek τακτικός (taktikós, “fit for ordering”), from τάσσω (tássō, “to order, to arrange”). Pronunciation: /ˈtæktɪk/ 1. A maneuver, or action calculated to achieve some end. Example: Omar has challenged Elliott Abrams’s record in Latin America, taken a firm line against Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, and advocated for—wait for it—the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine (even though the headlines have focused on her expressing support for the right to boycott as a tactic). 2. A maneuver used against an enemy. 3. A sequence of moves that limits the opponent's options and results in an immediate and tangible advantage, typically in the form of material.
Word: tactic Part of Speech: adj Etymology: Borrowed from New Latin tactica, from Ancient Greek τακτικός (taktikós, “fit for ordering”), from τάσσω (tássō, “to order, to arrange”). Pronunciation: /ˈtæktɪk/ 1. Tactical; of or relating to the art of military and naval tactics. Labels: dated, not-comparable Example: But time will teach the Russ, ev'n conquering War Has handmaid arts: aye, aye, the Russ will woo All sciences that speed Bellona's car, All murder's tactic arts, and win them too […] 2. Describing a polymer whose repeat units are identical Labels: not-comparable