on
Part of speech: adj
adv
verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: acting
ball-games
baseball
broadcasting
cricket
drama
dramaturgy
entertainment
film
games
hobbies
lifestyle
media
snooker
sports
television
theater
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂en-der.
Proto-Germanic *an
Proto-West Germanic *ana
Old English on
Middle English on
English on
From Middle English on, from Old English on, an (“on, upon, onto, in, into”), from Proto-West Germanic *ana, from Proto-Germanic *ana (“on, at”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂en- (“on, onto”).
Cognates
Cognate with Yola a, an, ana, on (“on”), Saterland Frisian an (“on; at”), West Frisian oan (“on; to, towards”), Cimbrian aan, å (“on, onto”), Dutch aan (“on; at”), Low German an (“on; at, to”), German an (“at, in; on”), Luxembourgish un (“on; at, to”), Yiddish אָן (on, “on, onward”), Danish, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish å (“on”), Elfdalian ą̊ (“on”), Faroese and Icelandic á (“in; on”), Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌰 (ana, “at, on”); also Umbrian 𐌀𐌌- (am-), 𐌀𐌍- (an-, “up, upon”), Ancient Greek ἀνά (aná, “on, upon”) (whence Greek ανά (aná, “by, through, per”)), Albanian në (“in; on”), Latvian no (“from; out of; for; of; with”), Lithuanian nuo (“from, off; for, of”), Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, and Ukrainian на (na, “on”), Czech, Polish, Slovak, and Slovene na (“on”), Serbo-Croatian на, na (“on”), Old Armenian ան- (an-, “at, on, unto”); and from Old Norse upp á: Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish på (“on”), Norwegian Nynorsk paa, på (“on”), see upon.
Inflected forms:
form: ons
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: oning
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: onning
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: oned
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: oned
pos: verb
tags: past
form: onned
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: onned
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: In the state of being active, functioning or operating.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: All the lights are on, so they must be home.
gloss: Happening; taking place; being or due to be put into action.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: We had to ration our food because there was a war on.
Some of the cast went down with flu, but the show's still on.
That TV programme that you wanted to watch is on now.
This is her last song. You're on next!
Are we still on for tonight?
Mike just threw coffee onto Paul's lap. It's on now.
England need a hundred runs, with twenty-five overs remaining. Game on!
gloss: Happening; taking place; being or due to be put into action.
pos: adj
tags: informal
not-comparable
examples: "Five bucks says the Cavs win tonight." ―"You're on!"
If he wants a fight, he's on!
gloss: Fitted; covering or being worn.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: Your feet will soon warm up once your socks are on.
I was trying to drink out of the bottle while the top was still on!
gloss: Of a stated part of something, oriented towards the viewer or other specified direction.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
postpositional
examples: The photograph shows the UFO side on.
edge on, side on, end on, face on
gloss: Acceptable, appropriate.
pos: adj
tags: UK
informal
not-comparable
examples: It's not fair to do that – it's just not on.
This kind of over-packaging of goods is completely not on.
so Simon Nelson saying on Feedback "we'd prefer it if everybody listened to digital radio via DAB" is completely not on at all.
gloss: Possible; capable of being successfully carried out.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: Climbing up that steep ridge isn't on. We'll have to find another route.
He'd like to play the red next to the black spot, but that shot isn't on.
gloss: Available; remaining.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: Smith is 25 points ahead with only 23 on.
gloss: Having reached a base as a runner and being positioned there, awaiting further action from a subsequent batter.
pos: adj
tags: informal
not-comparable
examples: With one out and no men on, Tristen Carranza belted a ball to the opposite field for a solo home run to put the NM State deficit at just 2-1.
Although Stanford was outhit 15-6, the Cardinal stranded eight runners to UCLA's three, hitting just 3-15 with runners on compared to the Bruin's 9-22.
gloss: Within the half of the field on the same side as the batsman's legs; the left side for a right-handed batsman.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: The captain moved two fielders to the on side.
Ponsonby-Smythe hit a thumping on drive.
gloss: Of a ball, being the next in sequence to be potted, according to the rules of the game.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
postpositional
examples: If the player fails to hit the ball on, it's a foul.
gloss: Acting in character.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
gloss: Performative or funny in a wearying manner.
pos: adj
tags: informal
not-comparable
examples: He always has to be on, it's so exhausting.
gloss: Menstruating.
pos: adj
tags: euphemistic
not-comparable
examples: It still gets in the way of her doing things like swimming, and she avoids sleepovers when she's "on".
gloss: To an operating state.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: turn the television on
gloss: So as to cover or be fitted.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: The lid wasn't screwed on properly.
Put on your hat and gloves.
gloss: Along, forwards (continuing an action), onwards.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: The policeman moved the tramp on.
Drive on past the railway station.
From now on things are going to be different.
rock on
He met Luis Suarez's cross at the far post, only for Chelsea keeper Petr Cech to show brilliant reflexes to deflect his header on to the bar. Carroll turned away to lead Liverpool's insistent protests that the ball had crossed the line but referee Phil Dowd and assistant referee Andrew Garratt waved play on, with even a succession of replays proving inconclusive.
gloss: In continuation, at length.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: and so on
He rambled on and on.
gloss: Later.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: Ten years on, nothing had changed in the village.
gloss: Of betting odds, denoting a better-than-even chance. See also odds-on.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: That horse is twenty-to-one on, so you need to stake twenty pounds just to win one pound.
gloss: Of a ball, into a pottable position.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: The black was previously unavailable, but in potting that red, he's now pushed the black on.
gloss: To switch on.
pos: verb
tags: Malaysia
Nigeria
Philippines
Singapore
colloquial
transitive
examples: Can you on the light?
gloss: In the Japanese language, a pronunciation, or reading, of a kanji character that was originally based on the character's pronunciation in Chinese, contrasted with kun.
pos: noun
examples: Most kanji have two kinds of reading, called "on" and "kun".
Antonyms: off
Translations:
lang: Indonesian
word: terjadi
lang: Danish
word: på
lang: Finnish
word: but see olla menoa
lang: French
word: parti
lang: Greek
word: periphrastically
lang: Italian
word: dentro
lang: Portuguese
word: destinar
lang: Swedish
word: för
lang: Swedish
word: på